Campaigners have expressed alarm at how cycle funding will be slashed in coming years following the election of a Conservative government. The party’s manifesto pledges less than a quarter of current funding over the next five years, despite a previous admission that funding needed to double for it to hit cycling targets.
The Conservative Party have pledged to spend £350m on active travel over the lifetime of the next parliament.
This works out at less than £1.20 per person per year, which compares to the current spend of £7. Groups campaigning under the Cycling & Walking Alliance umbrella have called for £17 a head annual spend, rising to £34 by 2025.
“Cycling UK is alarmed at the prospect of a new government slashing the level of funding for cycling in England to less than a quarter of its current levels for the next five years,” said Cycling UK Chief Executive, Paul Tuohy.
“The Conservatives in their manifesto have promised to spend just £70m a year on cycling infrastructure, opening up a chasm between what has been promised and what is actually needed.”
In October, the Government admitted that funding per head in England would have to double from current levels if it were to reach its 2025 target of doubling cycling from 800 million travel ‘stages’ to 1.6 billion.
Tuohy says that from next April there is “absolutely zero money” earmarked for local authorities for cycling and walking infrastructure.
“The Conservative manifesto commitment would see the current £7 per head currently being spent on walking and cycling in England, outside of London slashed to just £1.55 per head. This would be an abject failure by this incoming government to address the climate, air pollution, congestion and inactivity-related health crises the country is now facing.
“That’s why we will be writing to Boris Johnson demanding an urgent re-evaluation of his party’s spending pledge if he is truly serious about making the country ‘the greenest, cleanest on earth’.”
It's not cherry picking....
However we have seen alot less for similar. This and the one I mentioned the other day where the driver pled guilty and stated at his arrest he...
Would have been better if he had looked at the cyclists keeping fit and decided "I'll have what they are having".
I'm an off-road drop-bar rider, none of this applies to me! 😁
Explains alot.
A smartphone set to handsfree is always fully legal, especially when held in the hand...
I've had a pair of these (and, in fact, the full length ones) for a few years and they really are very good.
surely the police can do better that this? A woman almost died ffs...
Doesn't look like it'd keep mud/water out very well, I'll stick to my saddle bag with a plastic bag inside to keep my stuff together and dry.
The blessings from drivers take so very many forms - over to no-so-sleepy Haverhill... ...