Caroline and Sian on bikes

In a follow up to my post about Zac and Sadiq, today I am writing about the mayoral candidates Caroline Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat) and Sian Berry (Green).

Both candidates have been vocal about their ambitions for cycling, have plendged serious investment and they are currently the only candidates to sign up to the LCC's Sign for Cycling vision.

Sign for Cycling includes three main pledges which align closely with the aims of this campaign:

• Triple the number of miles of protected cycle lanes on London’s roads, to help people of all ages and abilities access the road network by bike. We need high-quality, protected space on main roads and at junctions to avoid forcing cyclists to mix with heavy or fast moving motor traffic. 
• A ‘Mini-Holland’ for every London borough - ‘Mini-Holland’ schemes create cycle-friendly town-centres. They encourage people to make local journeys by bike or on foot, help regenerate communities, and bring more customers to local businesses. 
• London’s next Mayor must act to end lorry danger. This must include upgrading the Safer Lorry Scheme and using planning powers over major construction projects so that only the safest lorries, are allowed onto London’s streets.

This establishes both candidates as frontrunners in terms of cycling ambition and policy, here are some of the details of their proposals.

Caroline Pidgeon

Caroline Pidgeon is a long standing member of the London Assembly and advocate of cycling and road safety. She is keen to make the point that improving London for cycling improves the environment for everyone and her policies are for the benefit of all Londoners. Key policies:

• She is unashamedly pro cycling in her proposal for a central London lorry ban to reduce congestion and keep cyclists safe.
• Increase the congestion charge to reduce the number of motor vehicles in the central London zone.
• Nearly double spending on cycling to 3% of Transport for London’s budget by the end of her term in office to match the number of people cycling (and further increases if more people cycle).
• Face the tough political decisions "I want to carry on the cycle superhighways – even the controversial bits – but I also want to look at outer London, because I think that there’s a real opportunity there to get more people out of their cars and on to bikes for those shorter trips."

She has appeared in a video interview with Chris Boardman, which is worth a listen if you have three and a half spare minutes.

Sian Berry

Sian Berry is a Green Party Councillor in Camden, previously worked as a roads and sustainable transport campaigner at the charity Campaign for Better Transport and cycles to work. 

We don't yet have details of the official Green Party policies for the election (we will publish when we do). Previously she responded to Stop Killing Cyclist's 10 by 2020 campaign and detailed her ambition for cycling:

Making cycling an easier and safer way to travel would make our city better in so many ways: reducing traffic and congestion, cutting the pollution that causes nearly 10,000 early deaths every year, reducing noise, allowing more space to be given to pedestrians, play and life on the streets, and helping citizens stay fit and healthy too.

• Responding to a call for 10% of Transport for London's budget to be spent on cycling she said she would work towards this if elected, but recognised she would need to ensure bus and tube services didn’t suffer as a result. She suggested funds could be found by:
• Cancelling the planned new motorway bridges and tunnels in East London.
• Introducing a Workplace Parking Levy using existing powers, similar to her proposals in Camden. 
• An overhaul of the congestion charge (see below).
• She proposes replacing the Congestion Charge with a scheme covering all of London (not just the small central zone), with the funds raised used to provide sustainable transport options.
• On physically protected cycle lanes she says "For me it’s the number one measure that would get a wider range of people cycling, and get current cyclists using their bikes for more journeys... If New York can do it, we’re well overdue this kind of road space revolution in London!". We agree.
• She supported having two cyclists positions on the TfL board - one for inner and one for outer London - and reducing the number of business representatives.

Boris' Air Pollution Legacy

At the end of Boris' term, London is still experiencing high levels of illegal air pollution with health impacts for tens of thousands of Londoners. His response to this has been to propose a scheme he's called the 'Ultra Low Emission Zone' (ULEZ). This article looks in to the details of this, why it isn't going to give us clean air and what different mayoral candidates are proposing:

• The Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) and the Congestion Charge Zone (CCZ) are referring to the same small area of central London. Essentially the ULEZ is an update on the CCZ with additional environmental considerations. 
• It means vehicles have to be at the latest EU standards (Euro 6 for diesels, Euro 4 for petrol), So this doesn't ban diesels.
• It begins in 2020.

Other measures to reduce air pollution:

Currently the mayor has just got buses to the Euro 4 standard at the end of 2015 (by retrofitting Euro 3). The mayor has pinned his hopes on Euro 6 and so many of the buses in service are two generations older and very significantly dirtier.

Impact

• 9'500 deaths in London each year: http://www.healthyair.org.uk/twice-as-many-deaths-caused-by-air-pollution-in-london/
• Cardiovascular diseases account for 80% of all premature deaths due to air pollution. That's around 20 Londoners a day are dying from Cardiovascular Diseases linked to air pollution, mostly heart attacks and strokes. 
• Royal College of Physicians latest report: https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/outputs/every-breath-we-take-lifelong-impact-air-pollution

It is obvious that the proposed ULEZ is coming in too late, lacks of decisive action and will fail to make any significant improvement apart from in a very limited area of central London.

Mayoral Candidates:

Zac (Conservative): Backing Boris' inadequate plans and promising more of the same.

Sadiq (Labour): Although showing a willingness to go further than Boris, his policies currently lack decisive action to deliver clean air for all Londoners. 

• Consult on bringing forward the Ultra-Low Emission Zone and expanding it along major arterial routes or a wider section of central London. Lack of details on what he would like to introduce.
• Call upon the Government to introduce a diesel vehicle scrappage scheme to support those who wish to change to a greener car. But not using his mayoral powers to ban these vehicles...
• Deliver the electric charging infrastructure, in partnership with the private sector, necessary for a major expansion in the use of electric vehicles.

Caroline (Lib Dems): Caroline Pidgeon's experience as an assembly member shows in her policies for clean air, which they say aren't just ambitious, but are deliverable in practice by a future mayor:

• Immediately add a £2:50 surcharge for diesels in the zone,
• Start the ULEZ in 2018 (2 years earlier)
• Ban diesel vehicles up to and including double-decker buses (not HGVS, presumably due to lack of alternatives) from the zone by 2024

Sian (Green Party): The Green Party are proposing a raft of policies to tighten up and improve the ULEZ in addition to making sure it is expanded to a wider area. This includes:

• Immediately introduce a higher congestion charge for all but the cleanest vehicles in central London, to create a Very Low Emission Zone. We will invite boroughs to opt in some or all of their area to expand this zone into illegally polluted parts of inner and outer London.
• Begin consultation immediately on a scheme to replace the ULEZ that will cover all of London and be effective in complying with the law. This could be combined with the new traffic demand management scheme we will develop to replace the Congestion Charge. 

Conclusions

While Sadiq is clearly leading Zac with his ambition for clean air, neither of the leading candidates are proposing decisive action on air pollution. In contrast, both the Liberal Democrats and the Greens are proposing immediate actions which would start giving us cleaner air from day one with plans to tighten the rules significantly over the next 5 years.

However in order to improve the health of the millions of Londoners living away from the centre, it's clear that clean air measures must be applied far beyond the limited zone currently proposed.

If you want to highlight the problem of air pollution, Stop Killing Cyclists are holding an Air Pollution Protest outside the Department for Transport on the 27th April - gathering from 5pm, main  action 6-6:30, join after work, details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1124784950872843/

Caroline Pidgeon AM supports Save Our Cyclists' HGV demands

Caroline Pidgeon AM has supported Save Our Cyclists' HGV demands in an email I have published in full below:

Thank you for getting in touch with me regarding the danger to cyclists in London posed by HGVs.

I am only too aware of the serious danger that cyclists can find themselves in when sharing the road with HGVs. Whenever I hear another cyclist has been tragically killed on London’s roads, I know it is highly likely to be someone crushed under the wheels on the inside of one of these vehicles. Too many people have died, and I support strong action to put an end to the danger.

I am in favour of trialling a rush hour ban on HGVs, and I recently questioned the Mayor about this - he admitted that he has now changed his mind, and TfL are now considering the possibility of conducting a trial.

I certainly support the introduction of CLOCS safety standards across all public sector construction contracts in London, and I’m happy to call on the Mayor to introduce this. I also support the introduction of the Confidential Incident Reporting and Analysis System (CIRAS) to HGVs – I lobbied the Mayor to introduce this on all London buses, and I am happy to lobby him to extend this to HGVs.

I have visited TfL’s HGV Task Force and I know they do valuable work. However, it’s clear there are still many poor vehicles on ours roads and I would support the expansion of the taskforce to make sure enforcement is as effective as possible.

Finally, I have also called on the Mayor to make more use of the Thames for construction traffic – if we can properly use the river to transport building materials, we can take many more dangerous HGVs off the roads.

Ultimately, it’s clear we need a high quality network of segregated cycle lanes to keep cyclists safe. However, until that is in place it is vital that we reduce the number of HGVs on ours roads, and that the remaining vehicles are as safe as possible.

Thank you once again for getting in touch.

Best wishes,

Caroline

Caroline Pidgeon MBE AM
Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group
Deputy Chair Transport Committee
Deputy Chair Police and Crime Committee

www.carolinepidgeon.org
LONDONASSEMBLY Liberal Democrat Group
City Hall, The Queen's Walk, London SE1 2AA

Follow me on twitter:     @CarolinePidgeon

Call on the Mayor and GLA to End Lorry Danger

Dear Friends,

7 out of the 8 cyclist fatalities this year have involved HGVs [1]. Much more could be done to protect cyclists and pedestrians from lorry danger:

• A rush hour lorry ban. When we asked earlier this year over half of our supporters wanted a lorry ban in the rush hour [2] when 40% of cycling fatalities involving lorries occur. 
• Construction industry HGVs have killed 5 cyclists this year already [3]. The construction industry must adopt 'CLOCS' safety standards to prevent further deaths. These standards should be made mandatory in every public section construction contract in London.
• Confidential reporting of bad practice needs to be rolled out to all HGV drivers, irrespective of whether their employer wants to take part [3].
  
• Stronger enforcement. Operators must never be allowed to put profits before lives by allowing unlicensed, untrained lorry drivers, or unsafe vehicles, to operate on our roads.

These urgent measures are the starting point for a target of zero lorry deaths on our streets. Safe segregated routes will be key to eventually eliminating road danger but we must start with action to save lives in 2015 not 2025.

Please forward this message along with your own demand for action to:
mayor@london.gov.uk; jennette.arnold@london.gov.uk; caroline.pidgeon@london.gov.uk; darren.johnson@london.gov.uk; campaignsbyyou@38degrees.org.uk

This list includes all the parties represented in the GLA. We need to make sure HGV danger is firmly on the agenda as the parties look forward to the next mayoral election. We will be publishing their responses so please copy us in.

Kind regards,

Fred

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References:
[1] - www.london24.com/news/cycling/london_cycle_deaths_2015_1_3964719
[2] - When we asked earlier this year over half of our supporters wanted a ban in the rush hour: http://saveourcyclists.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/supporter-survey-2015-responses.html
[3] - http://saveourcyclists.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/higher-safety-standards-needed-for.html

Response from the Lib Dem London Assembly Members

Caroline Pidgeon AM has responded to our concerns about Canary Wharf's lobbying on behalf of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Members.

This is the third response and follows emails from Murad Qureshi AM (Labour) and Darren Johnson AM  on behalf of the Green Assembly Members. We hope we will hear from the Conservative AMs soon.

Caroline's response:

Thank you for your email about cycling infrastructure in London. I am responding on behalf of myself and Stephen Knight AM, Liberal Democrat Assembly Members. 

I agree that we urgently need safe, segregated cycling provision, and I strongly support the planned North-South and East-West superhighways. They are extremely ambitious, and crucially they provide segregated space for cycling across the city through what are currently some of the most dangerous junctions. It is a tragedy that another cyclist has been killed at one of these junctions while this debate continues. 

I share your concerns over the lobbying activities of Canary Wharf Group, and I have raised the issue of potential conflicts of interest with the Mayor. You can read my question here: http://questions.london.gov.uk/QuestionSearch/searchclient/questions/question_277710 

I also raised the issue of needing to tackle these vested interests at a cycling fringe meeting recently. To hear this and my views on cycling in London more broadly you can listen to my speech here: https://soundcloud.com/aldcuk/making-space-for-cycling (from 24m 45s).

I do understand concerns about the composition of the TfL board that have also been raised, and I am happy to raise the issue of greater cycling and pedestrian representation in the future. 

I would like to assure you that the London Assembly Liberal Democrats are firmly in favour of space for cycling, and we will continue to campaign to make sure these projects are completed without being scaled back or watered down. 

Thank you once again for getting in touch. 

Kind regards, 

Caroline

Caroline Pidgeon MBE AM
Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group
Chair Transport Committee
Deputy Chair Police and Crime Committee
www.carolinepidgeon.org