Westminster Hall debate on women’s safety while cycling

On Tuesday 27 January, Public Affairs Manager Eleanor Goldberg Mitchell, Public Affairs Officer Tomos Owens and Campaigns Manager Sophie Gordon swapped their desks for a trip to Westminster to watch a debate on Women’s safety while walking, wheeling, cycling and running – an issue that has resonated with many of Cycling UK’s members and supporters.

The Westminster Hall debate, tabled by Jess Asato, MP for Lowestoft, brought together more than 20 MPs from across parties to discuss this important issue, as well as some ways that it could be addressed.

The Public Affairs team had worked with Jess for some months to get the debate on the order paper, and briefed lots of MPs on Cycling UK’s current campaign My ride. Our right.

The debate began with a powerful speech from Asato who spoke about the decisions that women have to make everyday about how to make journeys safely, the “unspoken risk assessment” as she called it.

She spoke about the need for direct, traffic-free, separated cycle paths given Cycling UK’s finding that 45% of women would be encouraged to cycle if this infrastructure was in place. This ask was echoed across the debate from MPs Lee Dillon, Dr Scott Arthur and Amanda Hack too.

Poignantly, Jess Asato MP spoke about how she wants her own daughters to grow up with the freedom to enjoy the outdoors, live healthy lives and travel safely wherever they want. Many others shared this sentiment, with some MPs even sharing their own, and their children’s, experiences of feeling unsafe travelling and exercising outside.

Representing the Conservative Party was Greg Smith MP, who described the debate as “sobering”, and a topic that “requires the government’s full attention”. He spoke about the need for better enforcement, which is difficult when our police forces are so stretched.

He also echoed our ask for better publicisation of the 2022 changes to the Highway Code which were made to better protect vulnerable road users such as cyclists and pedestrians. We are very grateful to Cycling UK’s many supporters who wrote to their MPs to raise this matter too.

Responding to the debate on behalf of the government was Minister for Local Transport, Lilian Greenwood MP. She highlighted the government’s commitment to keeping women and girls safe with the publication of their violence against women and girls strategy late last year which explicitly referred to women’s safety in public spaces and at transport hubs.

The minister also spoke about the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy and its consultation that Cycling UK and many of our members responded to late last year. She said that the consultation “recognised the need to address the barriers to active travel, including for women and girls”.

We hope to see the final strategy featuring targets for closing the gender gap in active travel, and we were pleased to hear both Jess Asato MP and Wera Hobhouse MP call for this during the debate.

Minister Greenwood spoke about Cycling UK’s important behaviour change work, including the Big Bike Revival Programme. She also mentioned the glow rides that took place across the country in October last year for ‘My ride. Our right’.

In the minister’s own Nottingham constituency there was a glow ride organised by the excellent groups Women in Tandem and Pedals, which demonstrated the appetite for change in her own constituency, as well as across the rest of the UK.

It’s a sad statistic that over half of women believe their cycle journeys are limited by safety concerns and a lack of suitable infrastructure, but it was heartening to see that across the House, there was widespread agreement that this needs to change. As John Slinger MP said: “We need to ensure that there are no ‘no-go areas’ for women and girls in our society.”

This debate really showcased the momentum behind the campaign to make every corner of life safer for women and girls, and Cycling UK will be continuing to lobby for this to happen through the ‘My ride. Our right’ campaign.

If you would like to support our work on making cycling safe and accessible for everyone, your donations will help us keep the pressure on while politicians are listening and turn debate into action on the ground.

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