Transport minister hears Chris Boardman saying Manchester’s £1.5bn cycling plan should be a UK template

Greater Manchester’s cycling and walking commissioner Chris Boardman has today briefed MPs and peers in a parliamentary committee room on his "Made to Move" report. This was produced last month for leaders of Greater Manchester councils and pushes for a £1.5n 10-year plan to get more people walking and cycling.

"A staggering 30 percent of journeys in cars in Greater Manchester are less than one kilometre," said Boardman, as he introduced his report to transport minister Jesse Norman, and members of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group. 

The Made to Move report includes design standards for infrastructure.

"We want the Department of Transport to help us deliver this vision," said Boardman. "Let us prove the case, then follow suit, so that all transport investment across the UK meets this standard and allows us to reap the benefits in full."

@chrisboardman speaking very eloquently about the transformative potential of cycling and walking at @allpartycycling meeting today https://t.co/DPXKONJfoA

— Jesse Norman (@Jesse_Norman) January 23, 2018

Boardman added: "Our MPs face tough decisions every day, holding the strings to a public purse which has shrunk in size and is being stretched ever more thinly. We can give them the proof they need; the evidence that this kind of investment will give them the very best bang for our collective buck.

"And that is important for people charged with making these tough choices, when every penny spent on cycling is a penny not spent on school textbooks, hospitals and housing. We need to show that this is in everyone’s best interests.

.@Chris_Boardman speaking in Committee Room 12 pic.twitter.com/WuM06ru4ZB

— APPG for Cycling & Walking (@APPGCW) January 23, 2018

"Riding a bicycle or crossing a street shouldn’t require bravery, but after decades of prioritising the interests and needs of the motor car above all else, rectifying the situation in favour of people walking and riding short journeys will initially require enormous political courage."