How 'bike-friendly' is the new council?

The local body election results are in. Congratulations to our new mayor, Justin Lester, and all the other successful candidates.

So how 'bike-friendly' does the new council look? Pretty friendly actually. In fact, if they are true to their word this might even be a better council for active and sustainable transport options than the previous one. Who would have thought we'd be able to say that about a council that's not led by the "cycling mayor" Celia Wade-Brown?

Here's the results from our survey of who are the most bike-friendly candidates with a flash red bicycle to indicate who got elected.

A few points to note:

• The seven most bike-friendly candidates in the survey all got elected!
• Ten of the fifteen councillors elected have a bike-friendly rating of 3 (out of 5) or above
• The average score out of 5 for all candidates surveyed was 3 but the average score of the elected council is 3.5.
• The average score for the top 8 (the number needed for a majority on council) is 3.9 out of 5, which is very promising! 
• Five out of six councillors who generally supported the Island Bay cycleway last triennium and then stood again 'won' their races this time. Justin Lester became Mayor, and Andy Foster (Onslow-Western), Iona Pannett (Lambton), Sarah Free (Eastern) and Malcolm Sparrow (Northern) all came first in their wards. David Lee came second in Southern but with a significant increase in votes, and a much bigger margin over the third placed candidate than in 2013.
• In contrast, of the six councillors who generally opposed the Island Bay cycleway last triennium and then stood again two (Jo Coughlan and Helene Ritchie) ran 'all or nothing' mayoral campaigns and lost. Nicola Young also ran a losing mayoral campaign but finished 2nd in Lambton Ward. Paul Eagle came 1st in Southern Ward and Simon Woolf (Onslow-Western) and Simon 'Swampy' Marsh (Eastern) came 2nd in their wards.

In summary, dire predictions that councillors supporting cycleways would be punished in the election turned out to be rubbish. It might be a stretch to say supporting the Island Bay cycleway enhanced anyone's chances but it certainly didn't harm anyone's chances, even in Southern Ward. Overall it's a pretty good result for active & sustainable transport options. Let's just hope this council can now 'walk (and bike) the talk'. They certainly have the mandate to do it.

On that note you can remind yourself what every elected councillor committed themselves to by reading Cycle Aware Wellington's Candidates on Bikes blog.

Regan.