June 2017 | 89 the bounds of what might be possible making use of national and local funds and getting contributions from developers building 100,000 homes and many new workplaces across the county . Noting this planned growth , we used the county council ’ s own projections for population growth from 694,000 in 2017 to 801,000 in 2031 . Putting this together would fund the primary Oxford and major town networks in nine years , and the whole network in 16 .
Then we considered benefits . �e all know that cycling makes us fit and healthy , and we know it reduces the killer of air �ollution and tra�c congestion , but how do you �ut a number on it� �ortunately , we didn ’ t need to learn how to do this from scratch , instead we based our approach on ‘ The Economic Cycle ’ – an analysis by professional economists commissioned by Cycling UK 4 . �e based our benefits on achieving �� percent of journeys by bike , and scaled the results from UK to Oxfordshire based on population and gross value added .
The vision is already giving us benefits in our engagement with the council . Our discussions about possible cycle routes have moved from thinking about individual routes to a presumption that a cycle network is inevitable and the �uestion is more about which ones first . We are also using it in our campaign to win support for cycling from the candidates in 2017 ’ s county council elections . Thanks to the publicity gained by the network , we have gained the attention of politicians , the press and public like never before . On 22nd April , we organised a mass gathering of cyclists and invited candidates to speak about their views on cycling . Nearly two hundred cyclists came to County Hall in Oxford , some from 20 miles away , others from just across the city . Nine candidates , from all four political parties on the current council , addressed them , talking about the benefits of cycling and what they would do if elected . Through this we hope that the next council will arrive feeling a strong mandate to improve routes for cycling , and a good idea of how to do it .
That amounted to a total benefit of ����m �er year . �bout �� �ercent of that was from health benefits , and the remainder from reduced journey time , both where reduction in motor tra�c reduces congestion and because cycling is simply quicker than driving for some �ourneys . Those benefits won ’ t all arrive at once , and in our financial analysis we assume that it will grow as the network grows over 16 years .
That finalised our vision � a com�lete , county-wide network of high-quality ‘ Dutch-style ’ cycling routes by ���� , with benefits that mean it almost �ays for itself every year after that .
Launching the network
Having designed the network , we wanted to gain public and political attention for it .
One of our team fortuitously happens to be a cartographer as well as a keen cyclist , and he turned our sketches into an attractive-looking map format . We decided that outside of cities , real geography and distance matter , so we opted for a geographically accurate map rather than a ‘ tube map ’ style version . That meant �icking s�ecific routes , but we considered these as our opening suggestion for discussion rather than definitive .
�t ’ s been a great team effort and we are �roud of the output , although we ’ ll be happier still when it starts appearing in tarmac . With current levels of funding , it might take more than 16 years to build , but by creating the vision we have greatly increased the chances that it will become reality . And , I remind the campaigning team of the ancient Chinese proverb :
“ The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago . The second-best time is now .”
We wrote a press release and sent it to list of local media on ��th �arch ���� . � took the day off work and went to a colleague ’ s house in �xford . This �aid off , as later in the day BBC Oxford called wanting to do a radio interview and a TV piece for South Today . So , at 4pm , I hopped on my Brompton and rode to the studios where I was interviewed live on the Drivetime radio show – quite daunting ! Thanks to a phone interview and some emailed pictures , the next day I was also on the cover of the Oxford Mail , clutching a copy of the ‘ map ’.
4 http :// www . cyclinguk . org / news / 20150120-research-shows-growth-cycling-worth- % C2 % BC-trillion-england % E2 % 80 % 99s-economy