Dear ECF friends

Once again we approach a year end. And with all such occasions it gives me an opportunity to wish all of ECF’s members, partners, supporters and colleagues a very enjoyable festive season and the best of prospects for the New Year. And of course we in the ECF family say “thank-you” to everyone who works to bring cycling to the world.

As in previous years I wanted to use this final message of the year as a moment of reflection. Every year we at ECF try to bring new knowledge and intelligence to the table that we can all use to make the case for cycling. And every year we listen and learn from your success stories and your needs so we can all build an even stronger cycling movement for the future.

We end 2014 having made some huge steps forward. I am incredibly proud of the joint effort from across the whole of ECF’s networks to publish three powerful investment studies in December and to create a new momentum in Brussels with the launch of the Cycling Forum Europe. Meanwhile our Secretary General was in Lima, Peru, representing our new World Cycling Alliance as part of a group showing what transport must contribute to Global Climate Change negotiations. That is amazing reach, from local cyclists in your associations and cities to the highest policy making levels.

We have reached those top tables because we have learned and listened to what is needed when the political world discusses international solutions. Billions of Euros that have to be spent to reinvigorate Europe’s economy. Reduce millions of tonnes of CO2 to avoid climate change. Millions of people that don’t do enough exercise to sustain even their own basic health.

So all advocates and lobbyists have learned to talk billions and millions, to make sure our voice is heard at the top table. However it is also increasingly clear that the “big, big, big” mind-set can be self-defeating, because it sometimes blinds us to the power of local action, personal solutions, real jobs and human behaviours. Listen to the language of big. “We are going to concentrate on the big issues that really matter.” “We must find big solutions”, “It’s not our job to look at local issues, we have to concentrate on the big issues.”

ECF has a vision for the new European growth plan. We can talk billions too. The economics tells us we will create 100,000 jobs with a return on investment that is five times bigger than comparable proposals. And at the global level we can see an alliance of cycling, walking and public transport that will not only reduce the risk of climate change it will transform millions of lives.

But our European vision comes from the human scale. Our vision sees a highly skilled young worker who has taken a job in the new digital economy. She has taken the job in a southern European city because the quality of life and urban mobility matches what she is used to in her university city in the north of Europe. She rides an electric bicycle to work on a high speed cycle route built by a local workforce, to the design of Danish engineers. Her Dutch bicycle uses components made by small and medium sized companies from Germany, Portugal, Italy, Czech Republic, Romania and Spain. Her stylish cycling jacket was made in the UK and the software that manages the bicycle and guides her to work was created in Austria. 

The impact of her behaviour is huge. On her route to and from work she shops frequently and spends more per week in local businesses than the average car or bus user. She creates zero emissions and improves her health with every trip she takes. She and other cyclists have taken 10% of daily trips off the local transport and road network which has had a noticeable impact on congestion, making local business more efficient and competitive. On an EU wide basis cyclists contribute over €200billion per year to the economy.

There is a chance to do things differently, locally, nationally, globally. We will think big and be excited by the billions. The Investment Plan for Europe is a huge step forward if it really does target growth in the real economy and the societal challenges that impact on the lives of millions of citizens. The slow movement towards a Global Climate Change Agreement and a new set of Millennium Development Goals can still be transforming moments for our planet.

But this can only happen if the political leaders can ensure that small is also part of the plan. The minimum scale of intervention cannot be a billion Euros or a billion dollars. Over and over again we find the very highest rates of economic and social return come from the local, human scale. This means that there must be a mechanism for local transport, urban transformation, small business, human scale intervention to be included in larger plans.

So we as cyclists always come back to the local, the human, the values that drive us forward at a personal level. As President of ECF and WCA I must tell you that every time your work creates a new cyclist we have moved one step nearer a more human, liveable, sustainable world. That is really something to celebrate. Please be very proud of what you do for cycling and let that pride sustain you and yours in 2015.