A quick update for cyclists in the constituency, many of whom have been in touch regarding The Times’s ‘Cities fit for cycling’ campaign, and the planned debate in Westminster Hall on 23^rd February.  First, I’d like to confirm that  I’ll be at the Westminster Hall debate on the 23^rd February (though I won’t be able to speak, as a front bench MP) to support the Motion (read the EDM here).

I’ve been extremely pleased by the attention The Times’s campaign has brought to the issue of cyclist safety.  Tooting is full of people who commute by bike and cycle for leisure – they deserve safe roads and the support of their MP, Mayor and government.  On a personal note I cycle (though not as often as I’d like – proof!), and I want my children to grown up in a city where they can enjoy cycling too, safely.  Staff in my office also cycle to work daily, to Tooting and Westminster, and I want to know that the government and Mayor of London are doing what they can to help keep them safe.

Sadly, we can’t say that right now.  The government has axed £150 million from local authority funding for cycle schemes, and cut road safety grants by £37 million as well as reducing funding for speed cameras and the highly effective THINK! Road safety campaign.  They abolished Cycling England and discontinued the Cycling City and Towns Pilot – which I oversaw as Transport Minister – and which were helping to increase cycling trips and reduce car journeys.

In London the Tory Mayor Boris Johnson has chosen to put speeding up traffic flow ahead of the safety of pedestrians and cyclists, creating poorly designed ‘cycle superhighways’ that fail to provide safe cycling routes through London (as anybody who uses the CS7 through Tooting will testify to).  I was deeply upset by the deaths at the Bow Roundabout at the end of last year, and have heard too many stories from constituents about accidents and near misses on local routes and an alarming number of stories of personal loss.

It’s clear to me that we need to do more to raise awareness of the benefits of cycling, particularly in places like London, and to prevent cyclists being killed and injured on our roads.  And we shouldn’t give the impression that the responsibility for this lies with cyclists – there tangible things that can be done to keep cyclists safe and prevent accidents.

My colleague Maria Eagle MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, is organising a Cycling Summit where cyclists, cycling organisations, motoring organisations, hauliers and road designers can come together to address these issues and hammer out some solutions that will make our roads safer for cyclists.

But even before then, we are committed to some specific proposals that will make a major difference to cyclist safety:

· First, a proportion of existing government funding for roads should be sent aside to be spent on building new cycle ways, improving junction design and installing traffic light phasing to give cyclists a head start.

· Second, the government’s trial of longer HGVs should be axed and income from the proposed HGV road charging scheme used to support the road haulage industry in upgrading safety measures and training.

· Third, the national targets to reduce deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s roads, axed by the government, should be reinstated.

As Transport Minister I was proud to be oversee investment in cycling programmes that were working to increase participation in cycling (you can read about it in enormous detail here).  It was a cross-governmental effort that focused on putting walking and cycling at the heart of local transport plans, and it was working.

I look forward to the proposals our Cycling Summit comes up with to build on this, and hope these will go some way to pressuring the government into taking action on this issue now.

I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to contact me about this. I am very proud to represent such an active community who care about issues that affect us all.