Cyclepath Victory in Sight!

bristol | the environment | news report Friday February 08, 2008 11:52 by East - Bristol Green Party

Electoral maths looks bad for Labour as Lib Dems finally jump on bandwagon

Bristol's Lib Dems have belatedly come out in official opposition to plans to run buses down the Bristol-Bath cycle path. This means that Labour are now dependent on Tory support to push the proposals through. But, even if the Tories do vote with Labour, just 4 Labour rebel councilors would be enough to save the path. One Labour councillor already seems to be wavering - the immense public pressure on this issue is beginning to tell.

Joggers and cyclist sharing the cyclepath

Two weeks after everybody else, but better late than never, Bristol's Liberal Democrats have finally come out publicly against the plans to run buses down the cycle path.

Obviously impressed by the turnout and strength of feeling at the public meeting on Tuesday, and/or the prospect of losing councillors at the next local elections in 2009, the Lib Dems have broken their official silence with a press release.

What's more, local Labour figures Faruk Choudhury and Paul Smith both now appear to have gone public with their opposition, so it looks like Labour would not be able to count on the loyalty of all of its councillors if the plans came to a vote.

With Labour and the Tories together able to muster 38 votes for the plans, and the Lib Dems and Greens 32 against, it would take just 4 Labour rebels to defeat the plans (3 would probably not be enough because the Lord Mayor, who is Labour, gets the casting vote in the event of a tie).

If we can just keep the pressure up especially on Labour councillors, this could be the end of the West of England Partnership's lunatic plans, as - if Bristol council pulls out - the whole scheme is a no go.

So it looks like that if everyone keeps writing and emailing and getting people to sign the Cycling Campaign's petition, the cyclepath will be saved yet!