Relating to West of England Combined Authority (WECA) and the ‘Metro Mayor’
The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) have a consultation on transport on the A4 Bath Road running all the way from Bath to Central Bristol. There are no plans or proposals, it’s an open ended survey, in our view not very helpful, involving all modes of transport and the local area. We ask all our members and supporters…
There are elections on May 6th for the regional West of England Mayor, the Bristol Mayor, and many local councillors. We’ve met most of the mayoral candidates to discuss our Cycling Manifesto for West of England, and Cycling Manifesto for Bristol. Here are the responses to our challenges from the main candidates for WECA Mayor (and here for Bristol…
It’s going to be a massive May for cycling in our region! On May 6th, Bristol will vote for a new Mayor, regional WECA mayor as well as local councillors. Who will truly back cycling? Who will set out a vision for cycling as a key mode of transport? Find out what Bristol’s mayoral candidates think about Active Travel…
At Bristol Cycling Campaign, we were interested to review the West of England Combined Authority’s (WECA) Transport Delivery Plan (published Feb’21 – see link). The document claims to set out “the currently funded transport projects (2021 – 2026) that are progressing to delivery over the next 5 years in the West of England region.” We were excited to see…
Today, the government made its long-awaited funding announcement for tranche 2 of the Emergency Active Travel Fund. The first tranche was a relatively small amount of money for Bristol, thanks to the formula used by the government, which prioritised areas with high public transport usage. Nevertheless, this first round of funding delivered the “pop up” cycle lanes on Park…
Months, years and sometimes decades go by with only warm words and crumbs from Government on cycling. We’ve had false dawns before but on July 28 the government published two potentially revolutionary documents for cycling: Gear change: a bold vision for cycling and walking, and the less snappily titled LTN 1/20 Cycle infrastructure design. Showing commitment based on what…
Bristol Cycling Campaign calls on the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) to provide additional funding for walking and cycling. We understand that central government have allocated the first tranche of the £250m funding for walking and cycling in the COVID19 recovery, first announced on 9th May 2020. Of the £45m in this first wave, just £741,000 has been…
Two unusual words led the Government’s Covid 19 briefing on May 9; walking and cycling. Why? It wasn’t just because the briefing was given by the Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps (though he does like what he calls travelling “under your own steam”) it was because active travel, walking and cycling is at the heart of the…
The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) – remember them, Metro Mayor, Tim Bowles? – have shown scant interest in active travel. But they have now put out a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) for a consultation which closed on 15 March 2020. This is important as the LCWIP is the only game in town for cycling improvements…
So we know our new West of England Combined Authority (WECA), and our new metro Mayor, Conservative Tim Bowles, will soon be celebrating being two years old. What are they for? Well they currently have a Consultation on a plan for transport (called the JLTP) throughout the region up to 2036. Wow an opportunity to make our streets safe…
