A quarter of Bristolians cycle around the city at least once a week, on routes ranging from segregated bike paths to four-lane main roads. And ahead of the upcoming local elections, politicians from each of the big parties have promised to make cycling in Bristol safer.
The promises include new bike lanes along bridges over the River Avon, 20mph speed limits on many roads, and a faster roll-out of bicycle hangars. Several residential side streets in two parts of Bristol could also see new bollards, to block drivers from using them as rat runs.
Four politicians from each of the main parties spoke to cycling campaigners in Queen Square on Saturday, April 20, after the Kidical Mass Ride in Bristol. The protest ride saw many families with children cycle through the city centre, showing the strength of demand for safer routes.
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Labour Councillor Don Alexander, cabinet member for transport, said: “We’re just finishing now the Old Market gap. Along with the Old Market quietway and Victoria Street, it will complete the cycling infrastructure from the Bristol to Bath Railway Path through to the centre and down to Temple Meads, which will be a product of many, many years of work.
“The next thing we’ve got planned are Bedminster Bridges and Bath Bridges, where designs are being worked up for active travel infrastructure. Our repairs of bridges across the New Cut have shown that we need to reactivate the plan for a new cycling and walking bridge across the New Cut.”
Other plans include relocating the cycling centre from South Bristol to make way for new apartments, and two liveable neighbourhood schemes, which will clamp down on drivers using residential side streets as cut-throughs to avoid main roads.
Cllr Alexander added: “Let’s not forget training. Our Family Cycling Centre is having to move from its temporary site in Hengrove, so we’re setting aside £13 million for a new one in Lawrence Weston, which will be a lot better. That’s now in the planning stages. I’m very pleased to host that in my ward, it just so happens that that’s where there was a site, I promise you.
“More important than any of these specific schemes is the work of reimagining public space and what it could be. It doesn’t have to be what it always has been, primarily for cars, be they parked or moving. There are loads of other possibilities.
“That’s where the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood, for me, is so important, because it gives communities a space to discuss what could happen to their streets and the other things that could go in there that would be great for their health, active travel, and the planet, with sustainable drainage, cycle parking and street trees.
“We will be moving to the trial stage in July or August, we hope. We’re also working on the South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood, and I’ve had requests from a number of other areas and I’m really delighted to have those requests, because I’m keen that we’re going to move on those as soon as we have the resources.”
Greens said they would ensure all new cycle lanes meet national guidelines, and have in opposition successfully led to several changes benefiting people cycling and walking. This includes opposing plans to reopen a road to cars which was blocked off during the pandemic.
Green Cllr Carla Denyer, co-leader of the national Green Party and MP candidate for Bristol Central, said: “Most people would agree that the government’s job, probably above all else, is to keep its people safe. And yet somehow, cycling and walking facilities to keep people safe, end up Cinderella-like, at the bottom of everybody’s to-do lists.
“At the Green Party, we do things differently. Your Green Party councillors brought a motion to Bristol City Council a few months ago, about reducing the number of serious injuries and worse to zero in Bristol. Thanks to the hard work of our transport and active travel lead, David Wilcox, it has passed.
“That motion included a line that all new walking and cycling routes in Bristol must be LTN 1/20 compliant. What that means is that journeys will be safer for pedestrians, wheelchair users, mobility scooter users and cyclists of all ages.”
LTN 1/20 refers to the strict guidelines setting out how new cycle lanes should be built, and are held up as the gold standard. This includes making cycle lanes wide enough, and making infrastructure feel safe to use, rather than just a painted lane on a busy main road.
Cllr Denyer added: “There are also some concrete changes that have happened across the city that you might have already seen that David also helped make happen, like the bollards on Bristol Bridge that stop drivers using the cycle track. Over the last eight years, we’ve also been the ones stopping the council from backsliding on some measures on sustainable travel.
“We stopped the mayor from reopening University Road just off the Triangle, after it had been successfully pedestrianised a few years earlier. And again led by David, we campaigned for extra roads to be made 20mph. But unfortunately we were blocked on that by both the mayor’s office and the Conservative police and crime commissioner.
“We are, at the moment, limited on what we can do, because for now the Green councillors sit on the opposition benches. However, there is a local election coming up, so if you want that to change, you know what to do.”
The Tories called for more cycling routes between different suburbs, and complained that currently most routes just head into the city centre. They also said cyclists need safer places to store their bicycles near bus stops or train stations, highlighting the problem of bike theft.
Cllr Mark Weston, leader of the Conservative group, said: “Because things are more dispersed for us in the suburbs, it’s actually about having the connectivity between the modes of travel. For us the priorities we want to see are how do you cycle, safely store your bike, and then use either trains or buses to travel on.
“Because we’re so dispersed, and the Conservatives tend to represent suburban wards, our priorities are slightly different. We want to see safe travel around schools. We also want you to be able to drive — sorry, cycle to the bus stops or the train stations, store your bike and have a reasonable chance of it actually being there when you come back.
“One of things that we’re very agitated about is it always seems to be about getting the cyclists to the city centre. Actually, it’s the interconnectivity, those radial routes that go from say Henbury and Brenty to Lawrence Weston or Southmead or Horfield, they’re often ignored. But they’re the actual journeys that are being used in our communities.”
The Liberal Democrats praised recent progress in improving infrastructure for people walking and cycling, but said this needs to happen much faster. Bike hangars were one example, allowing people with little space at home to safely store bicycles on the road.
Liberal Democrat Cllr Andrew Varney said: “We’re doing a lot of good stuff in Bristol, but unfortunately it’s just too slow. We need to see more rapid progress, and that’s what the Liberal Democrats support. We’ve got about 160 schools in Bristol, and only 11 school streets, so we need to see a much faster rollout of that.
“Another example is bike hangars, a fantastic idea as a lot of people don’t have a garden or rear access, they live in a flat, they don’t have somewhere to store a bicycle. A bike hangar takes the space of one car but it provides parking for six bicycles. We’ve got about 30. It’s progress, but it’s too slow.
“We’ve got about 1,200 kilometres of highway over Bristol, but only about 20 kilometres of really decent segregated cycling infrastructure. We need to do much better than that, and we need to improve it much more quickly.”
