Reallocate road funding for cycling says CTC

On the last day of Parliamentary business in 2015, the Department for Transport has published “Setting the First Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy: Getting Britain Moving”. This document sets out the timetable for developing the first CWIS to be launched in summer 2016.

The Department for Transport reinforces its vision for “walking and cycling [to] become the natural choices for shorter journeys”, by outlining its ambition to ensure that “cycling and walking are the first consideration of any new street design or maintenance programme”. CTC is also encouraged to see that the DfT recognises “Places with cycling and walking at their heart will help us to achieve our ambitions to tackle air pollution and climate change by reducing road traffic.”

CTC however is concerned that the DfT’s ambitions for sustainable transport are starkly at odds with the Chancellor’s recent Autumn Statement, which included just £300m for cycling and walking between now and 2021. This is a 58% cut compared with projected spending of £142m just for cycling in 2015/16 alone.

With UK roads set to receive a £15bn windfall over the next 5 years, CTC is now calling for transport ministers to reallocate some of this funding to help realise the Government’s ambitions for cycling and its wider health and environmental commitments.

Roger Geffen MBE, CTC Policy Director, said:

“After the Chancellor’s failure to provide meaningful support for cycling in his Autumn Statement, there is a yawning chasm between DfT’s admirable aims and the funding available.

“The only way to resolve this conflict is for transport ministers to reallocate some of George Osborne’s massive £15bn road budget towards cycling.

“We also need to see how the Government will live up to its aim of ensuring that space for cycling is incorporated into all new street designs and planned road maintenance works.”