Capital is first UK city to sign up to ambitious European cycling targets

TRANSPORT chiefs in Edinburgh have become the first in the UK to sign up to ambitious new cycling targets – with the aim that one in every six journeys will be by bicycle in 2020.

Edinburgh has joined cities including Madrid, Milan and Munich in agreeing to work towards a goal. The city's head of transport, Marshall Poulton, travelled to the European Parliament in Brussels earlier this month to sign up to the charter.

It commits Edinburgh to promote cycling within its overall transport policy, as well as setting aside more money to help raise the proportion of bike journeys in relation to other forms of transport from 4 per cent to 15 per cent in just over ten years.

The council said the targets were "aspirational" and not legally binding, but they still drew criticism from one leading motoring organisation.

David Legge, of the Association of British Drivers, said: "This is another attempt to make life harder for drivers in Edinburgh. I don't know what mandate the council has for signing up to this or whether they have asked people on the streets whether they actually want this. It sounds ambitious and I'd like to know what research the council put into it before signing up."

The council said the decision to sign the agreement was part of its long-term vision for transport in the city, but said it had yet to decide on measures that would be used to work towards the 15 per cent target.

Transport bosses are set to develop a cycling action plan over the next year that is likely to build on recent initiatives such as reopening the Rodney Street tunnel and the possibility of a bike-share scheme similar to those operating in cities such as Paris and Barcelona.

Gary Bell, of the cycling lobby group Spokes, welcomed the decision to sign up to the European charter but said radically increasing the number of cycle journeys would not be easy. "I think the council will have to do a fair bit of work if they are to achieve that sort of target," he said.

Councillor Gordon Mackenzie, the city's transport convener, said: "Edinburgh has to address both congestion and healthy lifestyles. This is why we are so keen to sign up to the ambitious targets of the charter. Getting more people on to their bikes is not just good for the environment – it's good for their health and well-being, too."