Local Elections 2019

With Local Elections coming up next Thursday (2nd May 2019), and 88% of members surveyed saying they vote considering a candidate’s stance on cycling, we’ve had a look through the party manifestos and selected out policies on cycling.
We’ve also selected policies that are closely linked to cycling, and which our members have told us matter, such as road maintenance and local air pollution.

Pledges are directly quoted, although we’ve stripped out segments that aren’t relevant to cycling. Each pledge is shown under the headings they appear under in the manifestos so you can reference back to them in the original if you wish.

Conservative Party

yorkconservatives.co.uk/manifesto-2019
Standing in all wards
Housing That Works For York
-‘Make sure housing developments come with the services to match like … road upgrades to ease traffic.’

Better Roads and Transport
-‘Increase investment in road maintenance even further.’
-‘Establish ward level pothole funds for every councillor to spend on repairing potholes within their ward.’
-‘Support sustainable transport with new cycling lanes, increase city centre bike storage and car charging hubs.’

Sport and Leisure
-‘Review the Public Rights of Way to make them more accessible.’

Green Party

york.greenparty.org.uk/manifesto
Standing in all wards
Transport
-‘Increase investment in … resurfacing and maintenance of pavements and cycle paths.
-‘Create a fund (from internal and external sources) to invest in a Dutch-style off-road cycle network developed in conjunction with local residents, starting with possible ‘quick wins’ in specific locations to close existing gaps.’
-‘Speed up the implementation of York’s Clean Air Zone to cover not only buses but all vehicles including taxis, delivery vehicles and private cars and speed up the effective implementation of anti-idling measures.’

Local Plan
-‘Provide a sustainable transport infrastructure capable of supporting the level of development in the Plan’

Health
-‘Invest in preventative health directly wherever possible and also through many of our other policies which support a healthier environment. Clean air, …and active lifestyles such as walking, cycling and sports all contribute to better health.’

Education
-‘Ensure that there is adequate provision for new schools on development sites in the Local Plan and ensure all schools have active School Travel Plans.’

A Council That Works For Residents
-‘[Use] capital budgets to the maximum possible to invest in the state of our roads, cycle paths and pavements…’

Edit 28th April
The Green Party have contacted us to inform us they have a specific transport manifesto for the city, which contains the following additional policies:
-‘Create a capital fund (£1m pa) to invest in every opportunity for a Dutch-style off-road cycle network developed in conjunction with local residents, including starting with possible ‘quick wins’ to close the gaps, for example at Hospital Fields Road (to join the Millennium Bridge to the Walmgate Stray route and at Marygate car park to join the new Scarborough Bridge provision through to Bootham Park, Wigginton Road and the Foss Island Cycle Path.)’
-‘Seek locations for covered secure cycle parking around the edges of the city centre and in workplaces, freeing up space in on-street parking for shorter stay use.’
-‘Pilot the ‘bike hangar’ on-street secure cycle parking provision (popular in many London boroughs) in terraced residential streets to cater for limited cycle storage options and also potentially at rural bus stops to support longer distance commuting.’
-‘Give priority for cyclists on major routes where they cross side road junctions and introduce well designed segregated ‘Dutch Style’ cycle tracks as part of any major highway changes or developments.’
-‘Get on with defining where cross-centre cycle routes should be and where they shouldn’t be – better signing to make clear the existence of the route to all users should help.’
-‘Ensure that all workplaces and schools offer cycle training/ urban cycle skills at minimal cost. The current subsidy for adult one-to-one confidence training should be made permanent and promoted more widely.’
-‘Offer ‘cycle try out’ packages and cycle challenges to all businesses within the city to encourage more cycling to work.’

Labour Party

yorklabour.org.uk/2019-manifesto
Standing in all wards
Places Peoples Want To Live In
-‘Declare our city a clean air zone and cut levels of pollution throughout York.’

21st Century transport in our medieval city
-‘Appoint a citizen’s transport commission to run a citywide consultation and use the results to build a long-term transport strategy for the city.’
-‘[Invest] an extra £1m each year for desperately needed repairs to roads, reducing risks to motorists and cyclists throughout…’
-‘Give cyclists a fair deal by increasing the proportion of highways expenditure spent on cycling.’
-‘[Put] right the neglect of cyclists and address the perilous state of the city’s cycle network.’
-‘[Give] cyclists a fair deal by increasing the proportion of highways expenditure spent on cycling to match the proportion of journeys made by bike – this will enable us to prioritise road improvements, including segregated cycle paths and fund a subsidised bike scheme for children.’
-‘[Ensure] that cycle training is available to all primary school children, regardless of families’ ability to pay; to give children the confidence to get out and cycle.’
-‘[Ensure] that every child has access to a bike through reconditioning old bikes from within the city.’

Liberal Democrat Party

yorklibdems.org.uk/manifesto
Standing in all wards
Making York Cleaner, Greener and Smarter
-‘Tackle poor air quality by delivering York’s first Clean Air Zone and committing to World Health Organisation standards for all air quality measures across the city.’
‘Invest additional resources into improving and repairing York’s roads and footpaths, including a city-wide scheme to reconstruct every adopted road in York.’
-‘Support the development of sustainable transport, such as …investment in cycle lanes and highways.’
-‘Increase facilities for bike storage on streets throughout York, in every ward and transport hub.’
-‘Identify opportunities for future sustainable transport initiatives to complement any works to dual the ring road, recognising the balance between future expansion of road space and our ambition to make York a sustainable city.’
-Trial the use of recycled materials to repair potholes and resurface roads.’

Also standing:

The following parties and independent candidates are also standing in select wards throughout the city, however attempts to obtain a local manifesto been unsuccessful.
Independents
Brian Watson (Acomb), John Galvin (Bishopthorpe), David Carr (Copmanthorpe), Tony Richardson (Haxby and Wigginton), Neil Wyatt (Haxby and Wigginton), Hilary Shepherd (Hull Road), Sheena Jackson (Westfield), Suzie Mercer (Wheldrake)

Socialist Alternative
Heworth

UKIP
Dringhouses and Woodthorpe, Huntington and New Earswick

Women’s Equality Party
Heworth

Notes on method:

Pledges collected from manifestos as shown on party websites on the 19th of April.
Where amendments to quotes have been made to suit the removed context we’ve shown this in [square brackets], where we’ve omitting non-cycle relevant text we’ve shown this with ellipsis(…).
Parties are shown in alphabetical order.
If you’re a representative of the party and think we’ve missed something, or have amended any of your policies, please let us know at YorkCycleCampaign@gmail.com

Ask Your Candidate

As we get closer to the day, your potential candidates will be out canvassing at your door and on the high street. Don’t forget to ask them further about their stance on cycling and impress on them how important it to you. You can also ask them if they support out five pledges, we’ve written to the 4 main parties to ask them if they’ll adopt our pledges to make cycling safe, accessible and convenient for all if they get elected. Those pledges are:
Pledge 1
Design Standards: Update City of York Council development standards for cyclists in line with Oxfordshire Cycling Design Standards.

Pledge 2
Transport budget: Pledge that a minimum of 12% (reflecting the current cycling modal share in York) of the capital budget for transport is dedicated towards cycle infrastructure costs over the next 5 years.

Pledge 3
Road safety: Actively pursue improvements in safety for cyclists, with the aim of reducing cycle accident rate on York’s roads by at least 3% per year over the next 3 years through proven methods.

Pledge 4
Think beyond the bicycle: Adopt the Wheels for Wellbeing Guide for Inclusive Cycling and design our city to be accessible to all.

Pledge 5
Join the gaps: Work with York Cycle Campaign to identify key gaps in the cycle network, and aim to bridge them, pledging to close at least one at least one of those gaps every year for the next 5 years.