Room to Ride - Protest this Monday 8:30am

Thank you for signing York Cycle Campaign's petition, asking for more space to walk and cycle. Despite gaining over 3500 signatures the council are failing to listen to us. We're protesting this Monday – please come and join us and help get our message clearly across.

Over £800,000 of Government funding is up for grabs to boost walking and cycling across the city, but York Cycle Campaign is appalled at the council's lacklustre proposals for the second tranche of funding, which fail to meet the Government's conditions, squandering York's chances of being awarded this sizeable sum.

It's time to make our feelings known. Please come and join our socially distanced protest this coming Monday at 8:30am outside the council's West Offices, followed by a go-slow ride over Lendal Bridge and a photo outside York Minster. If possible we ask that you wear a mask, and maintain a social distance of 2m from others. Bring along air-horns, bells and whistles and let's make a noise!

Over 3500 people have signed our petition asking to 'make room for walking and cycling' and in recent weeks York Cycle Campaign and York Civic Trust have gathered together members with a wide range of transport expertise to draw up a suggested list of proposals for the Government funding, focusing on continuous protected cycle routes that give people the option to travel safely all the way from the outskirts of the city to the centre. In particular our suggested routes focus on enabling children to travel to school safely and providing commuters with an alternative to the bus or car.

By contrast the city council has drawn up a piecemeal and temporary collection of proposals, which completely fail to meet some of the key principles laid out in the Government guidelines such as:

"Cycle infrastructure must join together, or join other facilities together by taking a holistic, connected network approach …"

"longer term it [the Emergency Active Travel Fund] will also help deliver significant health, environmental and congestion benefits."

We're saying that a cycle route is only as good as its worst section, and the proposals being put forward by the council fail to tackle some of the most difficult and dangerous gaps in the cycle network such as the city centre bridges and narrow sections along major roads. We're dismayed at the way in which our proposals have been dismissed, and we're incredibly angry that the council is jeopardising its chances of being awarded this significant sum of funding and failing to give people the safest transport option during the coronavirus pandemic.

We are using this protest to ask the council to work with us to enhance the city's finding bid and to grasp this unique opportunity to create a new era for cycling and walking in York.