Next year it’s local election time in Darlington, so now is a good time to consider what the main political parties might be inclined to do for cyclists.
Received wisdom – and local experience – would suggest that the Conservatives will be the last party to take the side of the sustainable traveller and support stronger measures in favour of cyclists, pedestrians and bus users. But then their leader is a regular cyclist. And now their Party Vice Chair Sayeeda Warsi has produced an upbeat report on BBC’s Newsnight about a bold Republican initiative in Portland, Oregon to increase sustainable transport use.
Judge for yourself whether this kind of political cross-dressing might catch on here – Tony Richmond on a bicycle? You can see Sayeeda Warsi’s report here.
Portland sounds like a fantastic place; I read a number of blogs from Portlanders.
Slightly Off-Tpoic: Do we have any independant councillors in Darlington? Or any wards where the Labour or Conservative candidates don’t just get voted in everytime?
As an example, in my ward I can’t imagine anyone other than Labout being voted in, and I remember looking through the results from the last election and not being surprised about the wards who elected Conservative/Labour councillors. I think the only ward with a mix of parties was North Road.
There are two independent councillors in Darlington, though they were both voted on to the Council as members of the Labour or Conservative parties.
There are two Liberal Democrats in North Road ward and one in Hurworth. Following next May’s elections we expect to have several more Lib Dems on the Council. You will also find that the Labour Party will probably lose control of the Council.