On 15 December 2017, Greater Manchester’s walking and cycling commissioner, Chris Boardman published his much anticipated report. Here’s the official press release from GMCA and the report itself can be downloaded as a PDF. If you don’t want to download the report, you can view it below. 

As you’d expect, there’s been a fair amount of coverage in the media, including articles from British Cycling, The Guardian, BikeBiz, road.cc and Manchester Evening News, who for some reason chose to focus on dangerous driving and school run aspects of the report.

I very much welcome this report and support the 15-point plan outlined in it. I think Chris and his team have a very challenging job on their hands. Securing the funds to support it will just be one of the challenges, having the 10 Greater Manchester councils on-board is another.

Right now, Chris and his team have the support of the Greater Manchester council leaders. I hope they remain supportive in the future, when it comes to making difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions. If done properly, it will ultimately mean some loss of space for motor vehicles on our roads.

I suggest Chris’ team start by addressing some of the shortcomings in TfGM’s proposed cycling implementation for the Metrolink Trafford Park Line. Oh and maybe get Manchester City Council to allow cycling in St Peter’s Square, as featured on the cover of the report.

I wish Chris and his team all the luck in the world, knowing that my family and I as well as the rest of Greater Manchester will be the ones that stand to benefit. This is our opportunity to really make a change, let’s show the rest of the UK how it’s done!