Date: 24th January 2014
Stop Killing Cyclists condemns the Mayor of London’s Announced Funding for Borough Cycling safety as an insult to those killed on London’s streets.
Boris Johnson made this announcement: “Mayor awards London boroughs additional £17.3m for cycling improvements”
(EDIT 09/04/14: It seems the page that linked to is no longer available, curiously…)
But the money was neither additional nor was it £17.3 million.
1/ As the funding was from the already announced Transport for London (TfL) cycling budget this money is NOT additional.
It means that the Mayor of London has failed to spend an extra penny on cycling since the recent tragedies or made a single extra junction safer.
2/ As the £17.3 million was a budget for three years, the actual spend this year will NOT be £17.3 million but will be £5.8 million.
As there are 32 boroughs, this is the equivalent of an insulting £181,000 per borough per year.
When you consider it costs up to £2 million to make a single major junction safe for pedestrians and cyclists, you realise that this is just cheap political Public Relations, at the expense of Londoners’ safety.
Transport for London currently spends about 1.2% of its annual £6,800 million budget on cycling, despite the fact that cyclists now undertake 4.3% of all journeys.
Donnachadh McCarthy, Co-founder Stop Killing Cyclists said,
“It’s time to end these political charades. Boris Johnson and the London Boroughs must provide real funding for pedestrian and cycling safety now. TfL needs to be investing £600 million per annum to make our streets safer for those aged eight to eighty to travel by bicycle safely.”
He added:
“It is a complete disgrace that over 10,000 London pedestrians and cyclists have had their lives destroyed by being either killed or seriously injured since 2008. During the same period only 3 people were killed on the entire national rail network. London’s roads are not fit for purpose“.
End.
Note to editors:
1. Stop Killing Cyclists is the direct action protest group set up after the recent spate of cyclist killings in London. They arranged the mass Die-In at TfL HQ where 1,500 cyclists lay down in the road in protest at lack of safety investment in London.
2. The press release from Transport for London was issued on 23 January 2014 and is available online HERE.