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Write to your MP to help save active travel funding, urges Cycling UK

Charity warns of Halloween “fright night” for walking and cycling when Chancellor announces Budget at end of this month

Cycling UK is urging people in England to write to their MP to ask them to protect active travel funding from widely expected cuts in expenditure across government departments.

The charity is warning of a potential Halloween “fright night” for cycling and walking when the Chancellor of the Exchequer – currently, Jeremy Hunt, although given recent turnover in the position it’s anyone’s guess whether he will still be in the role in 12 days’ time – presents the Budget on 31 October.

While funding for cycling and walking in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the devolved administrations in those countries, Cycling UK is very concerned that money set aside for active travel in England – according to the second Cycling & Walking Strategy for England (CWIS2), published in July this year – could be at risk. 

On its website, the charity says: “Two years ago, the government published ‘Gear Change’ – their ‘bold vision for walking and cycling’, supported by an increase in funding for active travel.

“The increase was welcome, but investment in cycling and walking is still miniscule compared to other transport spending, even though the government acknowledges that the benefits of investing in cycling and walking are huge.  It’s also not enough to enable every local authority to build the safe infrastructure needed, but there are now funding opportunities for some.

“But instead of increasing the funding and moving up the gears this Halloween, it looks like the government might back-pedal – cutting the active travel budget during a cost-of-living crisis, when people want and need cheaper transport choices.

2Investing in active travel brings higher and quicker returns than any other transport investment – so it’s absurd for a government focused on growing the economy to throw a spanner in the wheels of active travel.”

The charity has urged people to “Help us save the cycling and walking budget,” and has produced an editable email template, which you can find here, enabling constituents to email their MP “to tell them that investment in active travel can’t be cut, because it makes money for the local economy, makes us less dependent on imported fuel, saves people money, is a green and healthy solution to other crises, and just makes sense.”

In the wake of former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous ‘fiscal event’ – widely interpreted as a mini Budget – in late September, expectations are that HM Treasury will have to make swingeing cuts across Whitehall to try and balance the books.

And earlier this month, transport author and journalist Carlton Reid reported on Forbes.com that Andrew Gilligan – transport advisor to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and his cycling commissioner during his time as Mayor of London – had told a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham that Active Travel England, set up earlier this year, could be at risk following the installation of Liz Truss as Prime Minster.

“I really do hope it survives the arrival of a new government,” Gilligan said. “But I'm hearing slightly worrying things that it might not,” he added.

Just last week, speaking at Transport Questions in the House of Commons, Department for Transport Minister of State Lucy Frazer admitted, in response to a question from the Labour MP for Hornsey & Wood Green, Catherine West, that current levels of funding for cycling and walking were inadequate to meet the government’s own targets for active travel, themselves criticised by campaigners including Cycling UK as lacking sufficient ambition.

> Minister admits current active travel funding not enough to meet government’s own goals

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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21 comments

Avatar
Fignon's ghost | 1 year ago
1 like

I've done mine.

I'm so chuffed Truss has gone. I almost shat my morning cornflakes out whilst reading about Grant Shatts and his shiny new cyclophobic desk job. That bastard would've banned cycling.

Get Boris back now!

Boris. Kick all these fuckers into touch. Boris for President.

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eburtthebike replied to Fignon's ghost | 1 year ago
0 likes

Fignon's ghost wrote:

Get Boris back now! Boris. Kick all these fuckers into touch. Boris for President.

Before going to the pub tonight, I watched five minute of tv, open-mouthed at the tories who wanted to bring back Boris, even though he was the most unpopular PM ever (until Truss).  They seem to think that people will forget all the shite he subjected us to, and only remember that he did something good, sometime.  I was literally pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

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Fignon's ghost replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
0 likes

Get ready for it.

Bozo is back!
The reddest tory in the realm.

The rest are narcissistic carpet baggers. A bunch of Ayn Rand's in disguise.

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David9694 replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
1 like

Brexit claims another one of its children. I've been predicting a Boris re-boot since she won, but I thought it would be a terrible winter 2022/23 that would bring her down. From their point of view, he is the only person who has won - but then arguably lost - an election. 

Reading the right-wingers crying on Twitter that it's a coup (the coup they staged in 2015 is being reversed) is quite something. The somewhat sinister, very Animal Farm, Boris rehab "he was sacked about cake" has been attempted here and there too.

Party rank and file don't make good decisions about leadership: Tories threw away several other candidates this year, Labour selected Ed Miliband over David Miliband.  

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steaders1 | 1 year ago
3 likes

Write to yout MP so you can get a standard reply from their staff and feck all else will happen apart from them claiming even more on their expenses

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Rich_cb replied to steaders1 | 1 year ago
4 likes

I know someone who used to work for an MP in their constituency office.

They had a little formula to try and work out how important any particular issue was to the voters.

One of the things they counted was number of letters about the subject.

Apparently, in terms of importance, it was something like Twitter mentions << letters <<<< surgery visits to bring issue up.

I'm not saying all MPs do the same but letters can have an effect even if you just receive the stock response.

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steaders1 replied to Rich_cb | 1 year ago
0 likes

Write to yours then and let us all know what doesn't happen

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Clem Fandango replied to steaders1 | 1 year ago
2 likes

Just had my response.

"Thank you for your message.  I suspect that there will be a lot of emails like this about different issues and the Chancellor has a difficult job ahead of him.  I think it is right that there has been a big investment in Active Travel, and I am sure that Ministers will want that to continue."

So errr......yeah.

Anyway, he's "sure" that the "big investment" will continue so all is well.  Move along.

 

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eburtthebike | 1 year ago
6 likes

I hope everyone on this site and all BC, CUK and Sustrans members will be writing to their MP to make this very urgent request.  CUK is right, and this PM and government will cut anything at any time, they have no idea what it is they are doing, they are totally out of control, so we need to tell them what to do.  Write now!

Just heard on the radio that the Home Secretary (Suella Braverman, do keep up) has just gone.  Seconds later a tory MP came on to apologise for the mess that this government is, saying that he and many of his colleagues were fed up with it.  I think the lettuce is winning.

EDIT: Sent.

2nd EDIT: posted on fb.

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Clem Fandango replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
3 likes

Sent.  Used the template on the CUK site.

*screams into the void again for good measure*

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eburtthebike replied to Clem Fandango | 1 year ago
4 likes

Clem Fandango wrote:

*screams into the void again for good measure*

Given your astute understanding of the situation and the measures necessary to address it, would you consider becomming the next lettuce?  Sorry, Prime Minister.

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Clem Fandango replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
9 likes

The lettuce isn't Prime Minister?   

It's worse than I thought.

 

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Bungle_52 replied to Clem Fandango | 1 year ago
1 like

Just done it. Takes a minute. Thanks for the heads up.

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Old fat man on ... replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
6 likes

Braverman replaced by Grant Shapps !!! The lettuce would do a better job than either of them.

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Pyro Tim | 1 year ago
4 likes

My local mp is a bullying nonce, and is suspended for groping a young man at conference. Think his tongue is still up BoJos arse. No point there then.

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Clem Fandango | 1 year ago
11 likes

*checks who local MP is*

Grayling.

*screams into the void instead*

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Awavey replied to Clem Fandango | 1 year ago
5 likes

you think youve got it bad, try Therese Coffey instead, she could be running the country by next week

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Clem Fandango replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
5 likes

I mean at least Grayling made his prejudices feelings clear when he declared that "cyclists don't count as road users".

Transport secretary at the time too.....

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Old fat man on ... replied to Clem Fandango | 1 year ago
7 likes

So he can now send all cyclists to Rwanda !

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eburtthebike replied to Old fat man on a bike | 1 year ago
9 likes

Old fat man on a bike wrote:

So he can now send all cyclists to Rwanda !

At the moment, that isn't the deterrent the government thinks it is.

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vthejk replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
5 likes

I'm an immigrant AND a cyclist, and have wanted to do the Race Around Rwanda for a while. #bigwin

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