Push Bikes has contacted the political parties and independent candidates standing for the many council seats across Birmingham this May, to ask for their response to 6 questions. We ideally were hoping for individual responses from each candidate, but instead we have received a mix of individual responses and party responses. While unexpected, it is positive that we have had a Birmingham-wide response from some parties, as I have been unable to find Birmingham specific manifestos for any of the parties (because of the UK-wide manifestos for the national election, I guess).
Below we have links to the Birmingham wide responses as well as links to the appropriate national manifestos (that I have been able to find) all on one page for you to compare, and then links to each of the wards where we have received a response from a candidate. Birmingham Friends of the Earth also have some responses from local election candidates and one of the questions was if the candidates agreed that Birmingham City Council should guarantee funding of £10 per person for cycling in Birmingham irrespective of national government grants, so do take a look at those responses too.
As a reminder, the 6 questions we asked were:
- Do you subscribe to Birmingham City Council's new vision for transport, as laid out in the Birmingham Connected white paper?
- Will you support efforts to secure funding of at least £10 per person per year in Birmingham for cycling?
- Will you call for all pedestrian and cycle crossings in your ward to respond to the button press in under 10 seconds?
- Will you call for 20 mph speed limits in your ward?
- Will you promote the closure of residential roads to rat-running motor traffic?
- Will you support small projects in their wards to help create joined-up cycle routes for local journeys in your ward?
(Responses last updated 11pm, Sunday 3rd May.)
