A much delayed report into active travel investment in a London borough has found that car ownership and road user injuries are increasing, despite council targets in the opposite directions.
We reported last week on Brent Council’s Active Travel Investment Plan that had failed to produce a single monitoring report in the two years since it was announced. The council subsequently blamed internal resource pressures and this year’s local elections.
This weekend, the much anticipated annual monitoring report for 2025 was published, and showed progress being made in the creation of ‘green corridors’, ‘safer school streets’, and the installation of additional bike parking bays and bike storage hangars.
However, of the 11 fixed targets set, only six policy objectives show signs of progress, whilst other areas have gotten worse. Notably, one of the targets to decrease car ownership in the borough by 25 percent has seen the number of residents owning a car increase.
Meanwhile, a target to increase the proportion of residents participating in active travel – from 41 percent in 2024 to 70 percent by 2041 – has seen a decrease over the past year in residents doing at least 20 minutes of active travel a day to 37 percent.
From a road safety perspective, the number of deaths and serious injuries on Brent’s roads is unchanged from 2024, whilst the number of pedestrian and cyclist casualties has increased by more than 10 percent to 576, despite the council’s long-term objective of cutting that figure by 80 percent.
The council has touted its progress increasing the proportion of “sustainable journeys” made in the borough to 71 percent, though cycling constitutes just three percent of all residents’ journeys. The council has also championed “real progress” in relation to reducing air pollution, specifically nitrogen oxide. However, the council say, “These improvements are mirrored across London, likely corresponding with the introduction of the city-wide Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ),” rather than specific council policy.
Brent Council’s leader Muhammed Butt has had a mixed attitude to active travel, having once considered a ban on Lime Bikes in the borough. However, Simon Munk, Head of Campaigns for the London Cycling Campaign, told road.cc, “We are excited that Cllr Muhammed Butt, pledged prior to the local elections to LCC’s Streets for Cycling campaign, to complete TfL’s identified core cycle routes in the borough by 2030, saying: “Brent is proud to support this pledge… to make it easier, safer and more enjoyable for people to cycle.”
“It’s good that Brent is finally getting data out to track their progress, but what residents need is less time spent on historic data that unsurprisingly shows Brent lagging behind, and more actual delivery of cycle routes to turn that around. Brent’s pledge to LCC and residents means it’s time for the council to not just talk about delivering cycling schemes, but actually get on an build them.”
A Brent Council spokesperson last week told road.cc that the council remains “committed to delivering its Active Travel Implementation Plan and making it safer and easier for people to walk, wheel and cycle.”
