Huge pre-election row over cycle lanes in Trafford

A huge pre-local election row has erupted in Trafford after an apparent split among the Conservatives over cycle lanes. Tory contender Stuart Donnelly, who is standing in the Gorsehill and Cornbrook ward where cycle lanes run along Chester Road, has moved to distance himself from a statement put out by the Trafford Conservative Association which appeared to criticise the Labour-controlled council for ‘spending £500,000 on cycle lanes’.

But Mr Donnelly said: “We are not against cycle lanes, we believe in them. But we say the project to put cycle lanes through Old Trafford was rushed and not thought out.

“We argue that the public consultation that took place before it was rolled out was not listened to.” He said that the roads around Old Trafford were ‘choked up’ on Manchester United match days because of the positioning of the roads.

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Mr Donnelly went on: “We have been speaking to residents and listening to their concerns and it’s not on the principle that we are against them, it’s how the cycle lanes have been delivered. There was not enough discussion before they went ahead with the scheme. There were better alternatives.”

Mr Donnelly is part of the Stretford and Urmston Conservative Constituency Association, which does not have any elected councillors.

Trafford council’s Conservative group opposition leader Coun Nathan argues that money for cycle lanes would be better spent on fixing potholes. However, the Green group leader Coun Michael Welton and Labour are countering that money for cycle lanes comes from allocated funding from Greater Manchester Combined Authority and therefore cannot feasibly be spent repairing roads.

Conservative group leader Coun Evans said: “We are not against cycle lanes per se, but they’ve got to be in the right places. If they want to put cycle lanes along canal paths, that’s fine.

“But what’s being done is Stretford is catastrophic. If you want to spend half a million quid on increasing cycle safety, fix the potholes. I’m standing in one now. They are more likely to kill a cyclist than anything else.”

But the leader of Trafford’s Green Party group Coun Welton hit out at his stance, saying: “Trafford Conservatives know full well that government money given to the council for investment in safer, well-lit routes for cycling and safer crossings for pedestrians cannot be spent on potholes. To suggest otherwise is a deliberate attempt to mislead the public. It also conveniently distracts from 14 years of underinvestment in road maintenance by the Conservative government under five failing prime ministers.

“Investing in safer roads for everyone is a long-term project. It takes political will from local councillors and patience from residents as the work takes place. But the rewards in terms of healthier, safer travel, cleaning up our dirty air and reducing carbon emissions are massive.

“The Green Party will always stand for such long-term investment and residents can vote for us on Thursday knowing where we stand, in stark contrast to the chaos and division within the local Conservative Party.”

A spokesperson for Trafford Labour said: "The provision of improved and safer active travel infrastructure aligns with the Greater Manchester Transport 2040 Strategy and delivers on Greater Manchester’s Active Travel Mission through the Mayor’s Challenge Fund.

“The money received through the Mayor’s Challenge Fund is invested in walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure – and cannot be used to fix potholes."

Liberal Democrat group leader Coun Shaun Ennis said: “Active Travel gets treated like a political football when actually, I’ve never come across a person who doesn’t think it’s a good idea to support walking and cycling. We need to move past the idea that the best place for a pedestrian or a cyclist is right next to a motorist.

“We have plenty of canal paths, Metrolink lines, railways and public rights of way that could be turned into active travel routes for walking and cycling. The problem is that too often, walking and cycling infrastructure gets shoe-horned in alongside our roads where there isn’t the space to do a proper job.

“The evidence shows us that fewer people under the age of 35 are buying a car. Investing in active travel routes is the sensible thing to do, as long as we apply some common sense and stop making lazy assumptions about the best way to get people from A to B.”