We welcome the work Council staff have put into the development of a draft Moreland Pedestrian and Cycling Strategy, building upon the Moreland Integrated Transport Strategy and the previous pedestrian and cycling strategy.

A key meta driver for improving cycling infrastructure is the increase in global warming which we are already seeing in increasing climate impacts in Australia in extreme weather events. There is an imperative to rapidly transform social behaviours to be more sustainable and low carbon emissions, and this includes encouraging rapid transport mode shift to cycling for those that are able to.

We also note the projected increase in population in Moreland of 37,000 people by 2036¹ with already limited public space, high levels of automobile air pollution, traffic congestion, and need to green our public streets with more canopy trees to mitigate the urban heat island effect.

We note Moreland Council has already acknowledged we have a climate emergency at the September 2018 Council meeting² implying that emissions reduction and change in community behaviour is an important priority of Council including the pedestrian and cycling strategy.

Executive Summary outline:

• Greater Urgency needed in cycling infrastrucure build timeline
• Ensure Integration of Cycling infrastructure with neighboring municipalities
• Comment on specific cycling infrastructure items
• Other issues – Citizens Advisory Group on Transport

See our full submission below:

Notes

1Census Population Forecasts for Moreland City Council to 2036 https://forecast.id.com.au/moreland

2CAMoreland media release on Moreland Council Climate Emergency https://climateactionmoreland.org/2018/09/13/media-release-moreland-council-adopts-climate-emergency/