WRPW broadly welcomes the vision and ambition of the Draft Transport Strategy in respect of active travel. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a sustainable, people-focused transport network across the Borough of Bury that is fit for the next decades and the opportunities and challenges they will bring. This demands bold choices, political courage and transparent communication of the objectives of a sustainable transport policy and the requirements of future generations. We need to accommodate a changing world that will be simultaneously increasingly digitally connected yet also exposed to the risks of climate change. We see transport patterns changing as increasing numbers of people work from home or via a hybrid model. We see transport modes changing as the electrification of bicycles, tricycles, scooters, mobility aids etc. opens up the opportunities to travel actively and/or with a low footprint to almost all demographics. Conversely, decades of procrastination have led to an unhealthy over-reliance on the private car: gridlock, poor air quality, dangerous and unpleasant vehicle-dominated streets, vast (often subsidised) tracts of land required for the parking of vehicles during the long periods of their disuse. The case for active travel is a straightforward and strong one: we either do nothing and watch the volume of cars on the roads steadily rise, or we take action and create better, healthier, calmer, more efficient spaces in our local streets and centres. The choice is ours.
The options we have highlighted in this response are neither new nor radical: a network of high-quality protected cycle lanes is emerging across e.g. Manchester, Salford and Trafford. The Bee Bike cycle hire scheme operates in those areas, too. E-scooters are commonly seen in Salford. Safe, attractive pedestrianised areas are relished in central Bury. Quiet, filtered streets are emerging across GM and the UK more broadly. While there has been caution in Bury with the implementation of active neighbourhoods to date, it is to be hoped that deploying such measures within a broader transport vision will yield more positive results. Everything we have mentioned here exists somewhere very close to us. Transposing them on to Bury in the context of a future-proof Transport Strategy ought to be a matter of course.
The Draft Transport Strategy contains many excellent, forward-looking ideas: continuous footways, school streets, reallocation of road space, filtered neighbourhoods, protected cycle lanes. At the same time, it appears to want to achieve such a prioritisation of active travel while also catering for ever-growing transport volumes – adding new car parking, increasing the overall capacity of the vehicle network, supporting the Simister Island motorway expansion, which itself is likely to induce significant vehicular demand – and as such risks perpetuating the historical tension between aspirations for active travel and de facto promotion of motor vehicles.
This is a unique opportunity to create a Bury that we want to enjoy for years to come, that works for and appeals to future generations and that avoids the mistakes of the past. We know what needs to be done to achieve that – prioritise people over cars – so please let’s get it right.