Responding to reports that Devon County Council may seek to abandon the Heavitree and Whipton Active Streets Trial, Heavitree’s two Green Party councillors, Catherine Rees and Carol Bennett, have issued the following statement:
“The last set of evidence provided to HATOC showed that the Active Streets Trial had broadly achieved its principal aims of making residential streets safer by reducing traffic, and increasing active travel, especially journeys by bicycle, within its boundaries [1]. Over the full 18 month trial period, further increases in active travel may occur. The grant from Sport England was on the understanding that the trial would run its full course.
“We acknowledge that this type of scheme is only one way to create safer streets, but it is a highly effective and low-cost way to achieve this. And to date no alternatives have been forthcoming, either from the Council or the scheme’s opponents.
“It would be wrong to use the online consultation or the election result in Heavitree as a referendum on the Active Streets Trial. There has been an ongoing live consultation over recent months and the feedback should be used to refine and improve the scheme, not as a lever to scrap it altogether.
“Abandoning the scheme would return Heavitree to the problems that beset the area before the trial began, such as rat running, speeding and danger to pedestrians and cyclists, especially more vulnerable users. It would mean residents losing the benefits of calmer, quieter and safer streets.
“It would also set Exeter back years. Both Councils have an agreed target for 50% of journeys within the city by 2030 to be by walking, cycling or wheeling. This is a crucial target for creating healthier communities, addressing air pollution and cutting carbon emissions. It is hard to see how this can be achieved if the Conservative-led County Council and Labour-led City Council abandon initiatives to make streets safer for active travel. They should instead both be committing to work with communities to achieve this.”
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