Minutes:
The Deputy Chairperson advised the Committee that Mr. Steven Patterson, Deputy Director of Sustrans NI, and Mr. Andrew Grieve, Head of the Cycling Unit in the Department of Regional Development, were in attendance and they were admitted to the meeting.
Mr Patterson presented an overview of the work of Sustrans’ to the Members and described how, as a charity, it aimed to encourage people to travel by foot, bike or public transport for more of their every day journeys. He advised the Committee that, amongst others, they coordinated the cycle network and the active school travel programme in Northern Ireland.
He outlined to the Members the findings of Belfast’s first Bike Life Report which had been inspired by the successful Copenhagen ‘Bicycle Account’ which was a regular assessment of cycling development within the city. The Committee was advised that 1,100 residents in Belfast had been interviewed for the Belfast Report, including both cyclists and non-cyclists, and collected data on behaviour, perceptions and facilities around cycling in the city.
He presented the main findings of the Belfast Bike Life report to the Committee and advised them that the response was generally very positive and showed potential for increased cycling within Belfast. The Committee was advised that over 7 million bicycle journeys were taken in NI each year, 2.7million of which were people cycling to work. He highlighted the changes which non-cyclists had proposed in order to encourage more people to take up cycling in Belfast, the majority of which focused on safety, such as the implementation of protected bike lanes and traffic-free cycle routes.
Mr Grieve presented the Committee with an overview of the Bicycle Strategy for Northern Ireland which had set out, over a 25 year period, how the Department planned to make Northern Ireland a cycling community. He also detailed the Belfast Bicycle Network Plan and explained that cross-agency partnerships were essential in order to deliver a successful network for cycling within the City.
In response to a Member’s question he confirmed to the Committee that a series of consultation events was planned to engage with the public on the plans for the Network as it was essential to gauge local input.
Mr Grieve highlighted two key findings from the Belfast Bike Life Report to the Members, namely, that 46% of Belfast households had access to a bicycle and that 75% of people thought ‘things would be better if people in general rode bikes more’.
Mr Patterson outlined how the Council could play its part in advocating active travel and encouraging their staff to use sustainable transport. He reminded the Committee of the success of schemes like Bike Week, the NI Festival of Cycling, the Belfast Bikes, Ciclovia and the upcoming Active Belfast Challenge (ABC) which was due to take place in May 2016 and encouraged the Members to get involved.
During discussion, a Member commended Sutrans on the success their Bikeability course and thanked them for the training which had enabled them to be more confident while cycling on the roads. In response, the representatives suggested that they would like to see changes to the cycling proficiency training for primary school children in order to undertake safe on-road cycle training.
After discussion, the Deputy Chairperson thanked the representatives for their presentation and they retired from the meeting.