Saturday December 19th, Greenpeace Swansea volunteers, Gordon Gibson from Urban Foundry, and Nigel Morris from the Active Building Centre presented Councillor Nick Davies, responsible for Sustainable Development in Swansea, with a giant Christmas card reading ‘All I want for Christmas is Clean Air.’
The Sail Bridge, which features a cycle path prominently, was also decorated as a festive thank you for good work already done, and an acknowledgement that there is still some way to go.. Social distancing was adhered to and all volunteers wore masks.
Alison Broady, of Swansea Greenpeace and from Mount Pleasant said ‘Today Greenpeace volunteers and members of the urban Foundry and the Active Building Centre decorated the Sail Bridge and presented a Christmas card to our local councillor for Sustainable Development to let them know that for Christmas we want local transport improvements.’
Gordon Gibson, of the Urban Foundry, also said ‘A certain amount has been achieved in and around Swansea, with miles of off-road cycle routes, but the planned transformation in the Mayals, for example, with its loss of 19 trees, double yellow lines, traffic lights, high kerbs & toucan crossings, has shown that there is a long way to go in actually satisfying cyclists’ needs. Therefore Greenpeace’s efforts in Swansea are very welcome at the moment.’
In February, the government committed £2 billion of investment for councils to roll out new walking and cycling infrastructure such as protected cycle paths and traffic calming measures in England. However, by comparison, in last month’s Spending Review, the government maintained its commitment to spending £27 billion on new roads, while failing to guarantee any additional money for walking or cycling, or green local public transport. Transport is the UK’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, so building more roads only adds to this problem and will encourage more people to buy cars, and drive more miles.
Recent polling carried out by YouGov[3] asked people in Wales to choose their top two from a range of seven proposed transport improvements. New roads were the least popular choice, featuring in just 7% of residents’ picks for what they’d like to see. In contrast, just over half (52%) want existing roads to be better maintained, and a quarter (25%) want more cycle paths and a quarter (24%) also want less traffic on the roads. When asked if they’d support or oppose low traffic neighbourhoods, just over half (52%) of people in Wales were in support of the measures, designed to reduce traffic in certain streets, improve air quality and encourage walking and cycling, and just 14% oppose.
Rosemary Havard-Jones of Swansea Greenpeace said ‘We’re really pleased that Nick Davies accepted our Christmas card and discussed the local transport improvement residents would like for Christmas. We welcome their support in pushing for greener, accessible transport in Swansea and with ensuring Government funding is well spent.’
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