Mid Worcestershire Labour Party’s Response to the County Council Receiving a ‘Zero Rating’ from Active Travel England
Worcestershire County Council has received a ‘zero rating’ from Active Travel England, the Government body responsible for handling walking and cycling money and will be banned from making any new bids for walking and cycling money.
The ‘zero rating’ means that the Council has failed to meet even the minimum levels of local leadership and/or delivery track record that is required to receive any funding. This is a damning indictment of the Highways and Transport department and an incredibly feeble legacy of successive Conservative Council administrations. This level of competence is unacceptable, and we are left wondering how the Conservative led County Council is managing our other local services. The people of Mid Worcestershire deserve better and now is the time for greater transparency. To this end, we call on the County Council to publish, as soon as is practicably possible, its revised vision for active travel in Worcestershire and illustrate the steps they will be taking to receive an improved rating from Active Travel England and allow the Council to once again bid for funds to facilitate these improvements.
The Labour Party in Mid Worcestershire would work to accelerate active travel, introducing cycle tracks to make cycling safer on the county’s roads, properly maintain pathways so that these are accessible for everyone, work with bus companies to ensure there is space for bikes on more rural routes and increase cycle parking in areas where it is needed most. Introducing these and other ideas will ensure that we avoid missing out on funding in the future and improve not just the accessibility of both walking and cycling but improve air quality, improve health and wellbeing, and begin to help reducing the level of congestion across the county.
Alex Knudsen
Mid Worcestershire CLP Chair