Mayor urged to do more to promote cycling
Andy Street has been urged to do more to promote walking and cycling in a bid to reduce air pollution across the region.
Labour MPs say poor air quality contributes to hundreds of deaths in the West Midlands each year.
They want the region to be at the heart of a "green revolution" and claim many more people would ditch their cars for bikes if there were more cycle lanes available.
West Midlands Mayor Mr Street, who this week unveiled a new 500-mile cycling network for the region, says he is "utterly committed" to improving cycling infrastructure.
In a letter to the Mayor, Birmingham MPs Preet Kaur Gill and Liam Byrne said "active travel" needed to be a priority for the region.
They say Mr Street's plans to cut car use "do not reflect the scale of the action we need" and claim there is "untapped potential for active travel" across the region.
Ms Kaur Gill said: "Dangerous and illegal levels of air pollution are impacting the health of millions of people across the country, including those most vulnerable in our communities.
"We have an unprecedented opportunity to rethink how we travel for the benefit of our city’s health and the health of its citizens as we build back better from this Covid-19 crisis."
Push
Mr Byrne, who is Labour's candidate for West Midlands Mayor, said: "We led the industrial revolution, and now the West Midlands should lead the green revolution.
"A major push now to promote green travel would be good for our local manufacturing industry and the jobs of the future, and crucially cleaner air means longer lives.
"So this is a win-win for healthier lives and better jobs. Which is why we need the Mayor to get on it."
Mr Street has long championed cycling as a mode of transport, but saw his 'Boris Bike' scheme scrapped in 2019 following issues with the firm making the bikes and a low take up from the public.
He said Transport for West Midlands had "always been ambitious with our cycling plans" but conceded "we have clearly not done a good enough job at communicating our ambition to the public".
The new cycling route – the Starley Network – is part of plans to link local plans into a region-wide network. Mr Street says he hopes it will build on a rise in the popularity of cycling during the pandemic.
