I am surprised at Mr foster's conclusion that cycling in Aylesbury has declined since it became a Cycling Demonstration Town. That is not the view of Aylesbury Cycling Campaign members or other members of the public that I meet. Also, it is not the view of Cycling England who, having provided half of the funding for the first three years of the initiative, have agreed to continue funding because of the success of the project. They took into account all of the measures of cycle use rather than just Automatic Cycle Counters on cycle paths shared with pedestrians. The board of Cycling England has considerable expertise in the promotion of cycling, including such people as John Grimshaw the founder of Sustrans, so they would not be easily hoodwinked.

I do believe that cycling in Aylesbury has tripled, albeit from a fairly low base. There are a lot more adults cycling on the roads. There are a lot more primary school children being trained to a nationally recognised standard and cycling to school safely. If you go into Aylesbury town centre on a Saturday you will find that most of the cycle stands are in use and there are bikes locked to much of the street furniture in areas where there are not enough stands.

Training children to cycle to school safely at an age when they are keen to do so is an excellent long term investment; it makes them fitter and more independent and will make them better drivers in years to come.

If peak time car use increased by 20% the town would be gridlocked and many people would say that something should be done about, but when cycling triples it isn't very noticeable because bicycles are small and quiet and non-polluting. Something is being done to encourage more people to cycle into Aylesbury rather than drive and it is working, and for much less than the cost of preventing gridlock by other means.

Peter Robinson, Chairman,
Aylesbury Cycling Campaign

Do you agree with Mr Robinson or Mr Foster?

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