Mayor’s £98k active travel czar urged to ‘get on with the job’
Will Norman, the Mayor’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner, was today urged to speed up and intensify his work to encourage Londoners to change their travel habits.
The Mayor appointed Dr Norman in December 2016 on an annual salary of £98,000 to ‘lead, deliver and promote active travel in London and…deliver my pledge to get more Londoners active’ (1).
However, concerns have been raised about how he is being applied to this challenge at present. There is currently no city-wide campaign to win the support of Londoners for the Mayor’s vision for more people-friendly streets. This is essential for the delivery of his draft transport strategy (2).
During a recent visit to Waltham Forest, local councillors told Caroline Russell that robust political backing, early engagement with residents and transparent communication had been crucial in winning support for and driving forwards the Mini Holland proposals in that borough.
Caroline Russell today raised these issues with the Mayor at Mayor’s Question Time at City Hall (3).
Caroline said:
“The Mayor must win resilient political and public backing from every London borough for the radical changes we need to see on our local streets. He recruited Will Norman to do just that but at the moment, neither Sadiq Khan nor his walking and cycling czar appear to be doing enough to build local support for their healthy streets plans.”
“Londoners had to wait over six months for the Mayor to recruit Will Norman to the key position of walking and cycling czar. We now need him to get on with the job. That means becoming a highly visible, well known champion for healthy streets, going out and selling this new agenda to all Londoners and key council decision-makers and getting more involved in making sure schemes that are hostile to people on foot and bike are not slipping through the TfL net. ”
Notes to editors
1. In Jan 2017, Caroline asked the Mayor what Dr Norman would achieve in his first 100 days – read the Mayor’s answer here: http://questions.london.gov.uk/QuestionSearch/searchclient/questions/question_291560
2. The Mayor’s draft transport strategy, published on 21st June 2017, is out for consultation until 2nd October: https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/policy/mayors-transport-strategy/user_uploads/pub16_001_mts_online-2.pdf
3. Caroline Russell’s question to the Mayor at today’s MQT meeting can be read here: http://questions.london.gov.uk/QuestionSearch/searchclient/questions/question_294474
4. Caroline is available for interview
5. Further information about Will Norman can be accessed here: https://www.london.gov.uk/people/mayoral/dr-will-norman; https://twitter.com/willnorman
6. Caroline Russell was elected as a Green member of the London Assembly in May 2016. She has been an Islington councillor since 2014.