More Need to Cycle to Prevent Pollution Spike

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Southfield ward councillor Gary Busuttil warns recent air quality gains may be reversed

Southfield ward's Liberal Democrat councillor Gary Busuttil

One of the positive effects of the coronavirus was the massive reduction in vehicle movements and the subsequent reduction in air pollution. Many of us were delighted to breath cleaner air, and for those who enjoy cycling like myself, I enjoyed cycling on roads that at times were virtually empty.

Last year I took up cycling to commute to work, to lose weight and to engage in exercise I enjoy. I’ve witnessed over the last few weeks, greater numbers of people, of all ages, walking, jogging and cycling to get from A to B, which I consider a great thing, and a shift in the right direction.

We have made great strides over the last few years to entice people away from their cars. A huge amount of investment in London has gone into public transport, there has been a plethora of initiatives to promote cycling across London from Santander bikes, to cycle superhighways and quietways, and bicycle stands put in place. There’s even been initiatives to promote the use of electric vehicles through cheaper parking permits and Electric Vehicle Charging Points (EVCP’s) that Liberal Democrat Councillors in Southfield have and continue to push for in the last couple of years. Also as a Councillor, I have allocated money to many projects which have encouraged cycling in Chiswick and Acton.

The simple fact is that coronavirus will ultimately make pollution worse in the short term, and reverse the gains made in air quality over the last few months, if we don’t take up cycling in great numbers, particularly for shorter journeys. I’m not suggesting cycling alone will solve our air pollution problem, but traffic being one of the main causes of London’s air pollution, reverting to cycling will clearly help.

People are still staying away from using public transport, trains and buses remain eerily quiet on some routes, which doesn’t look likely to change in the immediate future and people are taking to their cars in greater numbers to pre-lockdown levels, this is even before the economy goes back to some sort of normality, as concerns over social distancing persist.

We saw recently that Ealing Council only got a relatively small amount of money from Transport for London (TFL) for cycling, possibly because Ealing Council delayed in their application to TFL, meaning most other London boroughs got more money than us!

I hear a lot of complaints about cycling facilities, and in many places they are woeful even in my own borough, but unless we take to cycling in greater numbers we cannot realistically expect to obtain better cycling provision. By taking up cycling we are benefiting threefold: we are engaging in exercise and improving our health and well-being, contributing to the improvement of our city’s air quality, and by cycling in greater numbers we can command more investment in cycling provision around our city.

Gary Busuttil

Southfield ward Liberal Democrat councillor

 

July 2, 2020