Creating a cycling city.

LIVERPOOL Primary Care Trust (PCT) and Liverpool City Council have signed a formal agreement at Merseyside Transport Partnership (MTP)'s annual conference setting out their commitment to increasing cycling levels in the city.

The alliance aims to improve quality of life and create a healthy, low-carbon city for the future. The City partners now hope that others will join the alliance so that Merseyside councils and PCTs can work with businesses, universities and cultural and sporting agencies to bring renewed commitment to cycling. Among the first to sign up were delegates at the Merseyside Transport Conference, held at FACT yesterday.

The new agreement sets out to generate a 10% increase in trips made by bike before the end of March, 2011, compared to journeys in 2006. Working together, MTP (through the TravelWise programme), Liverpool PCT and Liverpool City Council aim to secure support from more than 100 organisations over the remainder of Year of the Environment and during the city's Year of Health and Wellbeing 2010.

Gideon Ben-Tovim believes that increasing cycling rates has great potential to help improve the city's health and fitness levels. He said: "Liverpool's rates of obesity are higher than the UK average and rising car usage is a major factor in reducing physical activity. We believe our commitment to Liverpool Cycle City is a key element in helping to improve our city's health and wellbeing.

"Living an active lifestyle is one of the most effective ways to reduce obesity and conditions such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes. It's clear that, by encouraging more cycling, which can be one of the easiest forms of physical activity to incorporate into our everyday lives, we can help people to stay fit and healthy."

Cllr Peter Millea stressed that cycling can help create a greener and healthier city. He said: "This agreement enables us to pool our resources, enabling investment to work on a number of levels, which will jointly benefit the city's health and wellbeing, help tackle congestion and help improve our environment.

"The City Council is already investing in our cycling infrastructure and Liverpool PCT and MTP both work very hard to promote cycling. However, if we are serious about creating a true cycling culture, the sort that has brought huge benefits to other European cities, we really do need to work together. And what better time to launch this initiative, as we celebrate the final months of Year of the Environment and look ahead to the Year of Health and Wellbeing 2010?" He added: "Reducing the number of car journeys is crucial to cutting congestion and making roads safer for everyone. The region's TravelWise campaign is centred on persuading people out of their cars in favour of cycling, walking or catching the bus.

"Cycling is not only one of the healthiest ways to travel, it is also the greenest and one of the quickest and most accessible modes of transport around. Almost 70% of trips are less than 5km long; if more of these short trips were made by bike, I am confident we would see healthier people and a more attractive city, with less congestion on our roads and improved air quality."

Speakers address climate change THIS year's Merseyside Transport Conference also focused on how the new Liverpool City Region can maximise transport planning to deliver a low carbon future for the region.

As well as celebrating the Merseyside Transport Partnership's (MTP) continuing achievements in delivering a safe and sustainable transport network, discussion and debate centred around how the region needs to adapt in response to major issues such as climate change and diminishing oil resources, and how doing so can boost the economy and health of the area.

In recognition of Liverpool City Council's Year of the Environment, the event was chaired by the council's assistant executive director for environment, Jan Rowley. Fiona Wilford, of the Department for Transport, was the keynote speaker- she talked about how the Government intends to lead a national strategy to reduce the carbon impact of transport and help measures to address climate change. She also emphasised the critical role of transport in securing strong economic growth and increased employment.

Professor John Whitelegg continued his theme from last year's conference and set out how successful modern cities have managed to reconcile these different demands.

Helping reduce Merseyside's carbon impact will also benefit the health of the region's communities, by promoting cycling and walking as efficient ways of moving around. Andy Hull, of Liverpool PCT, described the work his organisation is doing to link transport and health issues. He was joined by Jeremy Legget, chair of the UK Industry Task Force on Peak Oil, who spoke on the problems we face if oil starts to run out, via a video link.

Neil Scales, chair of MTP, updated delegates on progress on the Local Transport Plan (LTP) and discussed planning for the future, including the start of planning for the new Liverpool City Region's Local Transport Plan - LTP3.

The conference also included the Merseyside Transport Awards ceremony. * TO FIND out more about the conference and see copies of the speakers' presentations, you can visit www.

transportmerseyside.org

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Cllr Peter Millea and Gideon Ben-Tovim, chair of Liverpool PCT, sign the agreement to make Liverpool a cycling city