Episode 26: Can British towns ever become cycling towns, or are we kidding ourselves?

Episode 26

Overview

Cycling accounts for just 2% of trips in England. In the Netherlands, that figure is 27%.

So why the enormous gap? Is Britain being held back by poor infrastructure, a car-dominated culture, a lack of investment, or simply a reluctance to give cyclists more space?

In this episode of BE Sustainable, host Mike Speight asks whether British towns could ever reach the point where cycling becomes an ordinary, everyday way of getting around rather than something associated with sport, leisure, or the particularly brave.

Using Reading (where the University of the Built Environment offices are based) as our test case, our panel looks at what Britain could learn from the Netherlands, whether Dutch-style cycling infrastructure is genuinely transferable to British towns and cities, and the difficult choices that might have to be made along the way.

Our guests

Mike is joined by Professor Ashley Wheaton, Vice Chancellor of the University of the Built Environment and Chair of Cycling UK; Councillor Paul Gittings, Mayor of Reading and a Bikeability instructor in local schools; Melissa Bruntlett, Netherlands-based urban mobility advocate and co-author of ‘Building the Cycling City and Curbing Traffic’; and Jason Wride, University of the Built Environment data analyst, author and everyday cyclist who has cycled extensively in Britain and overseas.