In May this year, Westminster released £2 billion of funding for safe walking and cycling routes to help councils reduce the health pressure of the pandemic. While councils such as Brighton responded with ambitious plans such as a segregated sea-front cycle lane, Gloucestershire County Council’s vision for Cheltenham went no further than a few unsightly red-and-white bollards in front of a few shops on Bath Road.
Yet even this gesture only came after fierce pressure from Cheltenham residents, who were tired of having to choose between breaking physical distancing guidelines and walking in the road with on-coming motorists. I doubt, however, that the “bollard solution” is what anybody had in mind…
This week, we discover that GCC was awarded just £864K out of a possible pot of £1.15 million for safe walking and cycling routes. Why? Because the award depended on how well the first batch of funding from May was spent.
The question the people of Cheltenham need to ask is: Do we think GCC’s “bollard solution” was a good example of our funding well spent? And if not, what would we have liked to see?
Don’t get me wrong: I’m glad GCC got the funding – it’s been far too long coming – but the fact remains: GCC could have (and should have) got more than it did. The reason it didn’t was because it’s run out of ideas and isn’t brave enough to put forward the vision the county needs post-covid.
GCC urgently needs a shot of imagination and ambition, underpinned by new ideas and fresh insight from across the generations. In short, we need more diverse representation to revitalise and bring new perspectives to a council that has become narrow-sighted and stale. Because without imagination, Gloucestershire will keep missing out.
Jess West – Green Candidate for All Saints Ward