I RECEIVED an email on Monday from a chap who read my column last week about dropping cigarette butts and fining litter bugs.

Firstly, thanks for the email. Keep 'em coming readers.

Secondly, the letter writer (Allan Ramsay from Radcliffe) wrote, in a roundabout way, to say that cyclists in Bolton face a treacherous — and often terrifying — ride on our roads.

He is right. Bolton's highways are not fit for purpose when it comes to bikes.

I wrote in this column before Christmas that we hear a lot of rhetoric from our political leaders when it comes to cycling and being bike-friendly — but in many cases, it is a load of hot air.

We have the odd bike lane and we have bike lockers at the train station (yet to open).

But cyclists are still demonised as aggressive road-hoggers who get in the way of drivers. They are seen as slimline tractors holding up our daily business.

It is this attitude towards cyclists which makes them so defensive in the first place.

We need to encourage and promote cycling as much as possible.

We need more cycling lanes in Bolton. I will repeat here my call for "Boris bikes" in the town. More cycle lanes should be added to pedestrianised areas in the town centre, too.

Cycling should play a crucial part in the revamp of Newport Street — and there needs to be off-road cycle lanes between the new interchange and Bolton Market.

Hopping on a bike is still the only truly green method of transport — other than walking — and it is also a hell of a lot cheaper than buying petrol.

Electric cars are still too expensive. I have investigated the possibility of getting one thoroughly over the last few weeks and the reality is that I am better off with my current petrol car.

As un-environmentally friendly as it is, the numbers do not yet add up, especially with the plummeting price of petrol.

This week in Lancashire leaders were set to decide on potentially allowing further fracking in the region.

I don’t buy the scare stories about mini-earthquakes and the like — but the fact remains that fracking is just another form of mining fossil fuels.

So firstly, it is a finite resource, and secondly it is not green energy.

Nuclear power maybe fraught with issues — but at least it doesn’t pump CO2 into the atmosphere.

A mix of wind, solar, wave and nuclear would do for me. Then make electric cars cheaper (and mandatory) — build more cycle lanes — and we’ll be well on our way to a greener and much more pleasant land.