Members of the House of Commons and House of Lords have called on the government to make changes to the Highways Act to encourage local authorities in England to invest in active travel initiatives.
Published today with the support of folding-bike firm Brompton Bicycle, a report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking (APPGCW) addresses the forthcoming second Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS2).
The report is based on evidence provided by a number of stakeholders who expressed their views in writing and in virtual evidence sessions held by the APPGCW.
> MPs and peers launch inquiry ahead of new Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy
One of the recommendations of the report, which you can read here, is the introduction of a new Highways Act, which would require highways authorities to take environmental sustainability and improvements in public health into account when developing and building their networks.
The report’s authors maintain that the Act should place a requirement on local authorities to ensure that any changes to the road network are accompanied by making improvements to people travelling on foot or by bike.
They have also called on the government to set targets for growing active travel to help achieve the carbon emissions goal of Net Zero by 2025, and for five-year funding targets to be set to ensure certainty over how such initiatives would be financed, as well as for a “fair deal” for disabled cyclists, similar to the Motability scheme which provides access to motor vehicles for people with disabilities.
Watch live now the launch of our CWIS2 report:https://t.co/AKrpKyHvb4
— APPGCW (@allpartycycling) September 20, 2021
Ruth Cadbury, the Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth and co-chair of APPGCW, said: ‘’It is an incredibly exciting time for active travel; with Gear Change, LTN 1/20 and preparations in motion for the establishment of Active Travel England.
‘’Whilst there is much to be positive about, it is also clear that far more work is needed to realise the potential of active travel and the role it can play in decarbonising our transport network.
‘’This report provides a broad and detailed overview of what is needed to take that next step in delivering wider uptake of cycling and walking – and the many benefits associated.’’
Fellow APPGCW co-chair Selaine Saxby, the Conservative MP for North Devon, said: ‘’Since the first Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS), the government has shown significant commitment to growing walking and cycling.
‘’With this in mind, we commissioned this report to help focus on what is needed from CWIS2 to harness that recent progress and better understand the challenges and complexities.
‘’The result is an important set of recommendations, which we hope will help to deliver further positive change.’’
Brompton CEO Will Butler-Adams said: “This inquiry by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking (APPGCW) is a vital piece of work and Brompton are proud to support it.
“The report rightly focuses on what the Government should consider at this important time to build on the positive developments in active travel.
”We particularly believe that access to e-bikes should be prioritised as they unlock cycling for many more journeys by a wider range of people.
“Electric bikes are the only type of electric vehicle not to receive a grant or subsidy from the government,” he added.
19 thoughts on “MPs and peers call for new Highways Act to support active travel in England”
I appreciate the existence of
I appreciate the existence of the APPGCW and the thoughtful pronouncements but would the money not be better spent making the state opening of parliament commence with a critical mass bike ride of all participants through the city? On open roads? Happy to go with a Dutch interpretation (“fiets”) of bike so anyone who needs a wheelchair (adapted) or mobility scooter (regulated…) is welcome. I’d love to see tandems too – Jezza and Dianne Abbot, or Lynne Truss and Rishi Sunak?
As well as bringing joy to so many I think it might raise political consciousness?
A mass bike ride is always a
A mass bike ride is always a good idea.
I’m not a fan of ‘either or’ arguments, when in reality there isn’t a single sum of money and a binary choice between project A and project B. In any case, the MPs who make up the APPGCW aren’t paid extra to belong to the group.
The link to the report doesn
The link to the report doesn’t work for me.
There were extra characters
There were extra characters
https://allpartycycling.org/resources/inquiries/reaching-our-active-travel-potential/
While the intentions are good
While the intentions are good, many, if not all, councils already have such statements about prioritising active travel in their policies, they just ignore them, but I suppose a bit more encouragement to actually carry them out wouldn’t go amiss.
“Electric bikes are the only type of electric vehicle not to receive a grant or subsidy from the government,” A very valid point, and since Boris the Liar is currently spouting forth about how every other country isn’t doing as good on the environment as us in the UK, maybe he could take this little step to “level up”.*
*Sorry, don’t know what came over me there, but I’ve been out in the sun, so that could explain the transient lapse into sanity.
EDIT; of course, the media will start ignoring this report immediately, but that’s understandable as there isn’t any space left after they’ve finished bigging up electric cars.
As a not yet 70 year old
As a not yet 70 year old living in the Forest of Dean I would say that going by the huge number of ebikes being ridden by blatantly fit instead of real bikes
I would suggest that any subsidy ought to avoid ebikes completely. All that would do is encourage more of the things. Excellent kit if you need such a thing but if not then both an extra drain on the worlds resources and only a half way stage between sofa and cycling. 
Though Always better than the
Though Always better than the eSUV, let alone the ICE version.
mattsccm wrote:
“The blatantly fit”
Your diagnostic skills put Doc Martin, famous for his ability to identify any malady at twenty paces, to shame. Lung cancer, emphysema, leukemia, recovering from surgery? No problem for you, and those shirking malingerers should be kicked off their ebikes and made to crawl the tracks instead. The laughing emoji doesn’t make it funny.
I would suggest that any
I would suggest that any subsidy ought to avoid ebikes completely
Almost, but not quite, what I wrote- which was that there should not be subsidies for e-bikes without the same subsidy for proper bikes. Pretty uncontroversial, I thought. The usual suspects, eburt and hirsute again demonstrated their inability to concentrate long enough to comprehend, and a propensity to dream up arguments that weren’t put in order to oppose them. I don’t seem to be angry at all, as there are no subsidies for e-bikes and I suspect there won’t be any.
Funnily enough it was the
Funnily enough it was the label you use to describe ebike users. Or do you still not get that ? Did you forget that you had to bump one of your own threads just to stir up ebike controversy ?
And if you really wanted to be uncontroversial, you would have written
“I would be very annoyed if there was a subsidy for e-bikes, and none for proper bikes- setting aside the suspicion that any subsidy simply induces sellers to put the price up by almost as much as the subsidy”
But you didn’t, you decided to be controversial and then pretend you weren’t.
Its a bit OT, but does anyone
Its a bit OT, but does anyone know how the Highway Code changes are getting on?
I know they’ve already updated some of the motorway stuff, but when does the active travel related stuff get added?
eburt is not allowed to reply with, ‘when they finish the comprehensive road safety review’ 😉
soon, Autumn was the only
soon, Autumn was the only timeline they mentioned publically, and the changes had to be laid before parliament for 40 days, so even if they did it now they might not come in till next year anyway, but it will soon be conference season too where they kind of avoid putting stuff out that requires MPs to be in the chamber to debate/vote, so it might not be till end of October you see anything. They did publish a load of changes to the HC last week, but presumably only ones not requiring changes in law, mostly about rules for motorway driving.
but there are some cycling and walking stats being published tomorrow.
(No subject)
brooksby wrote:
It would be redundant now you’ve done it for me.
And when will the msm notice and publish the changes everywhere; I’m not counting the gammon press and the “cyclists’ mafia ruling the road” stories.
theyve mostly published the
theyve mostly published the changes from last week, and there are ways in government of making papers print this kind of stuff if needed, they havent been printing all the minutiae of covid guidelines just because theyve got blank pages to fill.
if parliament approves it and the changes becomes law, then Id expect at a minimum the DfT to carry out a national media campaign.
I would be very annoyed if
I would be very annoyed if there was a subsidy for idlers’ (or ‘relaxed cyclists content to let the bike take the strain on hills’ to avert the reflex anger) e-bikes, and none for proper bikes- setting aside the suspicion that any subsidy simply induces sellers to put the price up by almost as much as the subsidy
wtjs wrote:
As a 70 year old idler living in the almost entirely unflat Forest of Dean with three ebikes so far, I’m hoping that was sarcasm. Are you just as angry at the subsidies for ecars, so that your taxes go towards encouraging driving by idlers much more idle than us ebikers?
Not this again. This was all
Not this again. This was all covered previously – ebikes are good for those of older years, folk with with hip problems, knee problems and recovering from prostate cancer treatment (which given your age you need to start to think about).
or would you rather all these folk got in their cars?
hirsute wrote:
Don’t forget those of us that travel 9 miles a day to get to and from work, and up steep hills too. Used a regular bike for years to do this and the amount of cooldown and cleanup after so I don’t spend the day stinking makes it impractical.