Duncan Kerr, Coordinator of the Shrewsbury and North Shropshire Green Party has welcomed the news that the Government intends to get serious about forcing Councils to make proper provision for cycling.

He said

"It is great to hear the Government recognises that merely painting lines on a road where vehicles travel at 30mph doesn’t make for safe cycling. Unfortunately the little provision that Shropshire Council has made for cycling has been to create these token lanes that have been rightly labelled as substandard by the Prime Minister. I visited the one on Middleton Road, Oswestry today (see picture), and as is normal there were vans and cars parked right across it proving the point that they maybe be cheap but they are not safe. We need properly segregated cycle lanes.

Shropshire Council will now need to urgently review its priorities in favour of active travel. It can avoid having its highways budget cut in the future by the new Government watchdog by committing to provide an underpass at Mile End, Oswestry for cyclist and walkers who will be unable to cross the new double roundabout that is being created there at a cost of over £16m. They might also help themselves, and the sustainability of the County, by abandoning the costly and destructive North West Relief Road for Shrewsbury.

The other elements such as the prescribing of cycling and walking by GPs all show that the green message is getting through. Active travel by cycling and walking is not only more sustainable it is better for our physical and mental health."