ournalist Andrew Gilligan has been appointed as the transport advisor to new British prime minister, Boris Johnson. Gilligan was Cycling Commissioner from 2013 to 2016 when Johnson was Mayor of London and was responsible for pushing through London’s curb-protected “cycle superhighways.” He has said in the past the process of getting approval for the Cycle Superhighways was “a pretty big fight” and that he at times doubted it would happen. He was subsequently given an award by the London Cycling Campaign for his “outstanding contribution to cycling.”
Referring to his successors after leaving the job, he said: “I think the struggle for clean air in London is as important as the struggle for clean water in the 19th century and that struggle cannot be won without a significant increase in cycling, so the new team has, in its hands, a policy instrument – the segregated cycle lane – which is now proven to bring about dramatic and huge increases in cycling, and I hope they use it.”
Since then, he has been a vocal critic of Sadiq Khan’s efforts to improve cycling infrastructure, saying that in many areas the mayor is doing little more than adding Quietway signs to roads and claiming them as new routes.
Gilligan is a senior correspondent for the Sunday Times, and will likely relinquish that job as he moves into his advisory role in 10 Downing Street. When he was the Mayor of London’s cycling commissioner Gilligan continued to work part-time as a journalist.
