Our March 16 Spokes/CUK hustings whilst polite and friendly throughout, revealed some clear policy differences, particularly on how, if at all, to tackle car numbers in the city. Perhaps not surprisingly, there was more agreement on the multi-faceted value of cycling as a means of getting around, whilst the issue of illegally ridden modified e-bikes featured prominently in questions.
Of course, with party manifestos not yet published we didn’t get much in the way of specific policies – perhaps fortunate for some of the speakers! What we did get was the individual views of the speakers, obviously representing their party’s general approach.
This report is not intended as a blow-by-blow account of the meeting, but rather picking out interesting points from the evening..
We successfully avoided the potentially boring usual hustings format, by inventing a special agenda as follows, and also explained in this meeting handout. All the feedback on it was very postive!
- Initiation – each candidate speaks for up to 3 mins on what they and their party would do for cycling and its wider policy context
- Interrogation – each candidate in turn is questioned by the audience & chair for 5 minutes, on what they have said
- Combination – two or three important questions, voted for by the audience, are put to all candidates
- Education – each speaker has 2 minutes to say what they have learned and will take away with them
The meeting, attended by around 70 people, was video’d – here – but unfortunately a technical problem resulted in the first half of the meeting not being recorded, so it misses Initiation and the interesting Interrogation.
Speakers
All the main parties currently represented at Holyrood were invited to send along a speaker, preferably a Holyrood candidate, and all did other than Reform (who left us guessing, despite reminders).
- Conservative – Jo Mowat [councillor; candidate for Edinburgh Central]
- Green – Chas Booth [councillor; candidate for Lothians List; Spokes member]
- Labour – Cllr Stephen Jenkinson [Edinburgh Transport Convener], replacing Daniel Johnson MSP who had accepted but had urgent parliamentary business. SJ is DJ’s election agent.
- LibDem – Cllr Sally Pattle [West Lothian Councillor and Chair of SEStran; candidate for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane]
- SNP – Kate Campbell [councillor; candidate for Edinburgh Eastern, Musselburgh & Tranent]
- Chair – Brendan Paddy, Spokes member, Director of Ramblers Scotland
The speakers had interesting differences in their personal cycling experience, providing telling insights into the current opportunities and the current problems of getting about by bike in Edinburgh.
- Everyday regular bike use for many years (Chas Booth)
- Cycling during covid and in Copenhagen, but finding Edinburgh traffic too scary (Kate Cambell)
- A big enthusiast for and user of the City’s new VOI hire bikes (Stephen Jenkinson)
- A former, but no longer, cyclist in the city (Jo Mowat)
Shifting away from cars and towards active & public transport
This was the topic which brought out most differences between the parties. Unsurprisingly all speakers, to various degrees, supported ‘carrots’ such as better active and public transport conditions, but whether and what ‘sticks’ were needed was a different matter!
- Chas Booth was enthusiastic about using some form of road user chargine and/or workplace/non-domestic parking levy to achieve a shift away from car use
- Stephen Jenkinson [Edinburgh’s Transport Convener] said the Scottish Government has not yet given councils the full powers needed to introduce congestion charging, despite being asked several times by both Edinburgh and Glasgow. He gave the impression of personal support if the policy was introduced jointly with other councils
- Sally Pattle said that SEStran (of which she is the Chair) is discussing with councils how car reduction targets could be met, implying that she supports such targets
- Kate Campbell supported a workplace parking levy and car reduction targets, and said the government was working on a new target, following the dropping of the previous one
- Jo Mowat did not support a workplace parking levy or congestion charging. Even on the carrots, she was less enthusiastic, suggesting that bike lanes slowed buses and that Councils should decide on funding priorities (presumably meaning that government cash currently allocated for active travel, should instead go into general funding, for councils to then decide how to use).
Summings up
Each speaker was given 2 minutes to sum up their thoughts at the end of the meeting, and what they had learned and would take away. All were enthusiastic about the innovative and friendly operation of the meeting. See the video for exact wording, but, roughly and briefly…
Sally Pattle, Lib Dem
We need much better connections by both active and public transport, both in the city and between towns in areas such as her West Lothian area. It is essential for local people, who know the local situation, to be involved in planning and delivery.
Jo Mowat, Conservative
She appreciates that most of the audience may not agree, but rather than the Scottish Government providing dedicated funding for active travel, it should be up to councils to decide how to use the money they have from government. She opposes a workplace parking levy as bad for business, and congestion charging because unfair on the people in all the new housing outside the city.
Stephen Jenkinson, Labour
Although not a candidate he is pushing, in his Transport Convener role, both the Scottish Government and his own party to adopt robust policies on transport, with active travel being an important element. In particular, councils need more legal powers (congestion charging and TRO rules had been mentioned in the debate) as well as better funding, in order to meet targets on car-km driven, climate change, congestion, etc.
Kate Campbell, SNP
There is a clear majority for progressive policies on transport and active travel. She was optimistic that the differences are such that constructive debate between parties should be able to come up with effective policies and projects.
Chas Booth, Green
Workplace parking levies and congestion charging are essential tools and he was disappointed that other parties seemed lukewarm or opposed. Most importantly, however, the meeting had been a reminder that new safe cycle facilities are vital for the many people who would cycle but are too scared on the trafficked roads, as Kate Campbell had said was her own situation.
Final summing up – Brendan Paddy
- Reasonably consensual points which came through during the evening…
- Slow pace of delivery – frustration! … multiple reasons needing tackled
- Funding – not just the amounts, but structure and timing, particularly need for multi-year for large projects
- Public transport – strong positive linkage between active and public transport in questions & answers, both are vital, and often complementary
- Safe infrastructure – important to cater for everybody, not just the confident – includes questions of gender, age, attitudes, etc
- Illegal use of modified ebikes – wide concern about this, including the fact that it is muddying the conversation about the great importance of ebikes
- Local decision-making – a big theme, which in fact interacts with national policies, e.g. local councils needing more power for certain types of local decisions
- Less-consensual outcomes...
- Targets on traffic reduction – whether they are needed and, especially, how to achieve them, and their relationship with active travel and public transport
- Traffic regulation orders – interestingly these processes were not seen as a problem in West Lothian Council, unlike Edinburgh [perhaps Edinburgh people are more litigious, and the Council therefore more over-careful]
- Workplace parking levy – strong differences in attitudes and in reasonings.
Meeting Resources
- Video of the second half of the meeting
- Evening News report of the hustings
- Pre-meeting: Bluesky post / Website post
- Meeting handout with the selected questions submitted in advance
Thank you
- Many thanks to the speakers, all who helped organise and run the meeting, and those who came along to take part.
What you can do next
- Repost the bluesky post about this article
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- Democracy Club – a truly fantastic resource, for the public good, largely by volunteers, with considerable info on each candidate. And … you can help, for example by uploading leaflets you receive from candidates.
- Info about the election
- Constituency seat candidates (all Scotland)
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- Scottish Parliament info about the election and how it works