Author: Tricia Fort

Ivan McKee has, at very short notice, stepped in to take Sandra White’s place at tomorrow’s Hustings.  He’s the SNP candidate for Glasgow Provan, see http://www.snp.org/ivan_mckee  and you can see more about him on his Facebook page

We look forward to welcoming Ivan to our Hustings tomorrow.

Here’s the text of Cat Boyd’s statement on active travel:

“Cat Boyd Candidate for RISE: Scotland’s Left Alliance RISE believe that less of the transport budget should be going towards trunk roads and motorways and more should be going to walking, cycling, buses and trains. 

Only 1.6% of the transport budget is spent on cycling, and that figure is falling in Swinney’s next budget while over £100m extra is going on roads. The spending on roads is £820 million now – a third of the total transport budget. We are subsidising the car industry and motorists. 

The health and ecological impacts of this, long term in Scotland will be huge. Glasgow was 17th out of 20 in a survey on cycle-friendly UK cities. Considering there is so many parks and green spaces in the city, that is a disgrace.
The Government is set to miss its target of 10% of people making everyday journeys by bike by 2020 by a long way. We think this simply isn’t good enough. About a third of carbon emissions comes from transport – if we are going to cut down on emissions we need to provide incentives to move people on to more green forms of transport.

The health benefits of people walking and cycling more are widely understood – it is especially important for children. We have an obesity epidemic emerging in this country – we are the fat men and women of Europe, with one in five obese and it could rise to one in three. We need to get people walking and cycling. 

RISE’s cycling policy: we need an increase in safe route funding with cycle paths laid down on roads all across the country, not cuts to safe route funding which Swinney has announced. We will argue this case in the parliament if elected.

Cyclists need to feel safe and secure – and also free of harassment. Too many cyclists get remarks made towards them from passers by and drivers, and the Scottish Govt needs to develop a strategy to tackle this sort of harassment. Women cyclists are twice as likely as men to get this sort of harassment as a cyclist, and it puts many women off cycling. It needs to end.

RISE have a policy to fight sexist street harassment which would cover cyclists. We believe that there must be a better, more democratic and sustainable way to use of public space in Glasgow – commercial events seem to be prioritised above all else. Safe cycle routes part of tackling that problem.

As well as ensuring that public space is well connected by cycle and walking routes, we
will demand a reduction in speed limits to 20 mph in all built up areas. Additionally, RISE supports free public transport for all.”

Find out more about the Hustings here

Here’s the text of Sandra White’s statement on active travel:

Sandra White MSP, SNP Candidate for Glasgow Kelvin Constituency
“The SNP are firmly committed to supporting active and sustainable travel. The SNP Scottish Government are committed to a vision of 10% of everyday journeys being undertaken by bike by 2020, which is set out in the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland.
In Government we are investing more than £1 billion each year to encourage people out of their cars. We are proud to be delivering the largest ever investment in cycling and walking in Scotland. Since 2011, we have built 190kms of cycling and walking paths.

The SNP in Government will continue to support the development of the National Cycle Network and its eventual completion in the years to come. When new trunk road schemes are introduced and improvements made to existing trunk roads, there is now special consideration for cyclists which the
SNP support.

We believe active travel should be part of our everyday life from the earliest years. We are pleased to see an increasing number of primary schools offering Bikeability Scotland on-road cycle training, which is achieved through Scottish Government funding and support from Cycling Scotland.

Recent investment also includes the launch of the Central Scotland Green Network (CSGN) Development Fund in November last year, which provides £700,000 to projects that support trees, woodlands and green infrastructure, encourage community growing or promote active travel.

We are proud of our investments to infrastructure and active travel and wewill continue to support developments to achieve our vision in the nextparliament.”

Find out more about the Hustings here

Here’s Brian Whittle’s statement on active travel:

“Brian Whittle Scottish Conservative MSP Candidate for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley
•The Scottish Conservatives want to see cycling promoted and developed throughout Scotland as a healthy, relatively cheap and environmentally friendly mode of transport.
•In our 2015 GE manifesto we said we want to double the number of journeys made by bicycle.
•Central funding is just one factor in cycling development and it is up to local authorities to ensure that the money is spent as efficiently and productively as possible.
•We should be integrating cycling into local transport strategies.
•Clearly, investment is a more important issue for urban areas and investment has to reflect local circumstances (that’s why we would not support a blanket ringfence for all councils of some percentage for example).
•If we hope to encourage cycling we must ensure that the safety of cyclists is improved. One way to do that would be through improved training.
•We must also look at what our schools are doing to ensure that our children are introduced to the benefits of cycling at a young age, that they are encouraged to cycle to school, and that they are given training to do so safely.”

Find out more about the Hustings here