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Thursday, October 09, 2008, 08:00
Terry Cook, a member of the ruling Labour cabinet, told a meeting of bike riders that Bristol's newfound status as a Cycling City meant motorists' attitudes would have to change.
He said the importance of cycling needed to be ingrained in the city council "right from the top of the political tree".
Mr Cook told last night's meeting that "radical steps" needed to be taken to rid the centre of Bristol of cars.
He said he did not expect the ban on motor vehicles to happen before 2010 but it was something the council needed to work towards.
Plans are already afoot to introduce a controversial congestion charge in the city centre – probably not before 2014 – but Mr Cook's comments go even further.
He said: "We are prepared to ban cars from the city centre. We are prepared to take radical steps. Cycling is the future.
"Within 10 years we should see most of the traffic in the city centre being cyclists and if we can get a critical mass of cyclists, then the attitude of motorists will have to change.
"Right from the top of the political tree, we have to ingrain cycling in the city council."
Mr Cook was speaking at Fairfield School in Horfield as the council revealed details of how it planned to spend £22.8 million on making Bristol a Cycling City.
Half of the money for the initiative was won from the Government in May and the rest will be provided by Bristol and South Gloucestershire councils. The funds must be spent by the end of 2010.
Bristol City Council is aiming to double the number of cyclists in the city from 30,000 to 60,000. Measures proposed include:
Three 20mph zones in residential areas around the city centre;
Enhanced cycleways on four main routes – the city centre to Bristol Parkway; Bedminster to Hengrove; around Cribbs Causeway; and out to Yate.
Up to 35 contraflow cyclepaths to allow cyclists to ride in both directions along one-way roads;
Improved signs and altered traffic light sequences;
More cycling proficiency lessons for schoolchildren – 9,200 a year, compared with 2,500 now.
At the start of the meeting, the council came under fire from Cycling England, the government group which awarded the Cycling City status earlier this year, and eco-charity Sustrans for its progress since the winning bid was announced.
John Grimshaw, founder of Sustrans and now working for Cycling England, said: "We chose Bristol because of the number of cyclists here but doubling that is going to be a huge challenge. I hope things have been going flat-out in Bristol."
Peter Lipman, of Sustrans, said: "I get the feeling that the stakeholder involvement has not gone as it should have and I can understand why there's some negativity from the cyclists who are here tonight.
A plan for how the £22.8 million will be spent is due to go before a cabinet meeting of Bristol City Council later this month.
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