Edinburgh bikers praise unprecedented city budget boost

By Alastair Tibbitt
Council spending on cycle projects is going up.

The latest City of Edinburgh Council spending plans have won praise from cyclists groups in the city after it emerged that the authority has ring fenced 5% of the total transport budget for active travel projects.

This financial year, around £600,000 of council cash, or 3.3% of the transport budget was used for active travel projects. In the next financial year this will rise to £1m, with a further commitment to raise this spending by 1% each year.

The numbers of city residents who cycle to work has increased rapidly in recent years, with much of the rise being put down to investment in cycle promotion by the council and local voluntary groups.

This latest spending commitment contrasts with many other local authorities in Scotland. Some do not dedicate any funding at all for walking and cycling infrastructure.

Dave DeFeu, of local campaign group SPOKES, said the decision by the City of Edinburgh had set a completely new standard for other Scottish local authorities.

He said: “It seems like we are in a virtuous circle with cycling infrastructure and initiatives leading to greater interest in using a bike to get around, with that in turn encouraging the council to act on its targets and its ambitions to grow cycle use.”

“The new investment will hopefully feed this exciting trend.”

Transport Convenor, Councillor Gordon MacKenzie said: “What we’ve done in this budget is set a minimum of 5% of the roads and transport budget for cycling.

“We’ve also said in the budget that it will increase annually by 1%. Now obviously we can’t set the budgets for subsequent administrations, but we’re doing this to signal our commitment.”

“This year it means that we’re putting in about 66% more from internal resources.”

“I’m really pleased that we got this passed in this administration as it’s what people were asking for.”

This weeks budget decision follows just week after the administration announced an extra £100,000 for cycle projects in this financial year.

Council officials have confirmed that this will be spent on improving parking facilities, Advanced Stop Lines and repainting cycle lanes throughout the city.

The City of Edinburgh Council is signed up to the ‘Charter of Brussels” which sets a target for at least 15 per cent of all trips to be made by bicycle by 2020.

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