March 2016
M T W T F S S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031  

Spokes Holyrood Hustings – report

Our March 21 public meeting gave the 100 people who came along a great chance to interact with politicians standing for the Holyrood Parliament, and many lessons emerged from the meeting …

Top conclusions from the meeting
1603 PubMtg CP CeG-aHnXIAIP4B6 CROP

Photo: Chris Paton

  • For really large numbers of people to cycle, the roads need to feel safe, and on major roads this means segregated facilities
Photo: Chris Hill

Photo: Chris Hill

  • Many MSPs [not those at the meeting!] do not really understand the potential of cycling as transport – how can they be educated?
Introduction
What the Candidates said [videos]

NB – order of speaking was decided by drawing lots

Group Discussions

The audience split into 5 groups, with candidates spending 10 minutes in each group.  Each group had a note-taker, whose notes are below.  The note-takers had complete freedom how to take and present their notes, so there is an interesting variety below!

Please remember:  The notes below should not be used as direct quotes from the candidates.  It is always possible that the note-taker mis-heard or misunderstood, or was giving a personal impression, in which case some points may not be a fair reflection of the candidate’s views or attitudes.  For direct candidate quotes, use the videos above.

Meeting overview

You’ll get a nice mix of comments and pictures by checking out our #SpokesMtg hashtag … there are two ways to do this …

Pictures of the meeting
Blogs and newspaper reports

What you can do next

  • Top issues to raise with election candidates [these are also summarised in the public meeting introduction video] …
    • Investment in cycling – 1.9% of total transport spending needs to be raised substantially – to 10% by the end of the Parliament
    • Council revenue budgets – hit badly in the recent Scottish budget – for cycling & transport this means reduced cycle team staffing and less cash for filling potholes
    • Bike/Rail – worsening of bike storage on new and refurbished trains
  • See our full article on the election – including details of other hustings in Edinburgh and Lothians, and lots of other useful info.  This article will be updated as we get more info.

Comments are closed.