We sent the following questions to the candidates for Brentford and Isleworth and Feltham and Heston parliamentary constituencies.
Brentford and Isleworth
Ruth Cadbury, Labour Party
Helen Cross, Liberal Democrats
Daniel Goldsmith, Green Party
Lucy O’Sullivan, The Brexit Party
Seena Shah ,Conservative and Unionist Party
Feltham and Heston
Tony Firkins, Green Party
Jane Keep, Conservative and Unionist Party
Seema Malhotra, Labour and Co-operative Party
Hina Malik, Liberal Democrats
Martyn Nelson, The Brexit Party
Hounslow Cycling is the borough branch of London Cycling Campaign, a membership charity with over 11,000 members. We campaign for better cycling facilities in the borough for everyone who cycles, or who would like to cycle.
For the benefit of our members, we would like to ask parliamentary candidates for both Brentford and Isleworth and Feltham and Heston constituencies the following questions. We will publish responses received on our website https://hounslowcycling.org and publicise the responses before polling day to our members via our mailing list, Facebook group and twitter account @HounslowCycling.
Climate Change
The Committee on Climate Change is an independent, statutory body established under the Climate Change Act 2008 to advise the UK Government on emissions targets. Their July 2019 report “Reducing UK Emissions” has the following recommendation on p68:
“People can take action immediately to improve their diet and increase the amount of walking and cycling they do. These changes can cut emissions and improve health. The Government must engage with people over why and how they can make these improvements, and take supporting actions (e.g. ensuring that road infrastructure encourages people to view cycling as a safe option).”
Question 1 Can you tell us your personal commitment to act upon Climate Change, especially with regard to walking and cycling?
Question 2 How, if at all, will you use your influence as an MP to encourage Government engagement so cycling is viewed as a safe option?
Funding for Cycling
The DfT Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy 2017 aims to make cycling and walking the natural choices for shorter journeys, or for part of a longer journey. The recent All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group meeting on funding for cycling identified that a significant increase in funding will be needed if the strategy is to succeed. The APPG has previously suggested that the share of the roads budget allocated to cycling should be increased to £20 p.a. per head. The current allocation is approximately £12.50 p.a. per head in London and £7.50 p.a. elsewhere.
Question 3 Do you agree with the aims of the DfT Cycling and Walking Strategy?
Question 4 How, if at all, will you use your influence as an MP to increase the share of the roads budget allocated to cycling?
Bike Tour
Hounslow Cycling would be happy to provide a tour by bike to show some of the challenges facing people who would like to cycle in the constituency.
Please let us know if you would be interested in taking up this offer.
Here are their responses.
B&I, Daniel Goldsmith, Green Party
Question 1 Can you tell us your personal commitment to act upon Climate Change, especially with regard to walking and cycling?
I walk and cycle when possible. I cycle to my work in Brentford every day. As far as possible I take the train rather than flying. For example, when I was working on a project in Geneva I took the Eurostar and TGV rather than the plane. I installed electric and water heating solar panels to my house over 10 years ago. I have also fully insulated and double glazed my house. I have also cut down the amount of meat that I eat. I am a member of Hounslow Cycling, and have spoken in favour of CW9 at a public meeting. I am also a member of British Cycling and Twickenham Cycling Club.
Question 2 How, if at all, will you use your influence as an MP to encourage Government engagement so cycling is viewed as a safe option?
The Green Party would civilise our streets by making Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (in which rat-running is blocked) the norm for residential areas and making 20 miles per hour the default speed limit. These changes would reduce traffic, carbon emissions and danger to people walking and cycling. They would also form part of a wider commitment to the core principle of the Vision Zero campaign – that there should be no fatalities or serious injuries as a result of road traffic collisions.
Question 3 Do you agree with the aims of the DfT Cycling and Walking Strategy?
Yes, I support the aims of the DfT Cycling and Walking Strategy, but I don’t believe it is ambitious enough. Many more journeys in London could be taken using the bicycle and by foot, and this would be healthier and better for the environment.
Question 4 How, if at all, will you use your influence as an MP to increase the share of the roads budget allocated to cycling?
The Green Party would spending £2.5 billion a year (around £40 per head) on new cycleways and footpaths. We aim to revolutionise our transport system by ending dependence on carbon.
Tony Firkins, Feltham and Heston, Green Party
Question 1 Can you tell us your personal commitment to act upon Climate Change, especially with regard to walking and cycling?
The climate emergency is a clear threat. One contribution to its solution is for personal transport to be less carbon intensive which means more walking and cycling combined with an expanded use of public transport. There is a swathe of Green Party policies which will contribute to these changes, in particular commitments to transfer public expenditure away from roads and towards other forms of transport.
Question 2 How, if at all, will you use your influence as an MP to encourage Government engagement so cycling is viewed as a safe option?
As an MP I would press for the adoption of Green Party policies which, among other things, advocate the creation of many more miles of protected cycle routes, which would be created largely from road space rather than from walking space.
Question 3 Do you agree with the aims of the DfT Cycling and Walking Strategy?
I assume you refer to the Government’s ‘Cycling and walking investment strategy’, which carries the headline ambition, “We want to make cycling and walking the natural choices for shorter journeys, or as part of a longer journey”. That is a laudable objective and I support it. The fundamental shortcoming of the strategy is that insufficient funds have been allocated to achieve the stated goal.
Question 4 How, if at all, will you use your influence as an MP to increase the share of the roads budget allocated to cycling?
Green Party policy is to quadruple spending on walking and cycling to about £30 per head while spending on road building would be halved. This would be achieved by recruiting allies in parliament who share our overriding concern to combat global heating.
Thank you for the offer of a cycle tour of the borough. I am a regular cyclist and I’m aware of many of the challenges faced by cyclists locally. At the moment I have insufficient time to take up your kind offer.
Jane Keep, Feltham and Heston, Conservative and Unionist Party
I would definitely commit to campaign for better cycling facilities in the borough for everyone who cycles, or who would like to cycle – and to support walking and cycling as part of healthy living, and a healthy community/environment too.