You may recall from our last newsletter that London Cycling Campaign are asking local council party leaders to pledge to build a safe cycle network in Hillingdon.
On the 19th of April we received our first pledge, from the Green Party. The full text of their email is as follows:
Thank you for writing to the Green Party Co-ordinators to let us know that cyclists in Hillingdon are requesting our help.
Hillingdon Green Party agrees with the LCC local group that everyone in Hillingdon needs a connected and credible cycling network – especially the non-cyclists.
Many residents of Hillingdon have little experience of actually riding locally. Some of us are in that category too, so we welcome the fact that you have reached out to us.
As the co-ordinators of Hillingdon Green Party we accept the kind invitation from your local group secretary to “meet over coffee, a walkabout or maybe a bike ride” with you.
We will encourage the leadership of all parties to do the same.
If elected, we will
- Form an informal All-Party Group to promote awareness of cycling, walking, and active travel within the Council. The aim is to bring together councillors across ward and party boundaries.
- Require the Council to make best use of TfL and DfT expertise and funding, and to increase its own in-house capacity to identify, design and implement network schemes.
- Work with local resident and cycling groups and all other stakeholders.
- Increase the ambition and smarten the strategy underpinning the next Hillingdon L.I.P.
Completing even the six cycle routes along the priority corridors identified by TfL by 2030 might not be achievable given the low ambition of the current Local Implementation Plan, the level of funding allocated for 2026-7 and the lack of published route alignments.
We will start in hope and go as far as we can to enable people to cycle from anywhere to everywhere on a network that is Coherent, Direct, Safe, Comfortable and Attractive. We pledge on behalf of our party to build such a network in Hillingdon.
As the council shifts to implementing this policy, Hillingdon will become a better place for everyone living, working, running a business, and caring for others – as well as discovering how nature supports every human necessity.
Best wishes
Hillingdon Green Party
It’s great to have our first pledge in, and having sent out a follow up email to all parties, it would be wonderful to have some more in soon. Our neighbours in Hounslow have three parties pledging already: Greens, Labour, and Liberal Democrats.
You can do your bit too: if you haven’t done so already, please take a minute to send an email to our local party leaders via this simple form: