Cycling UK calls on Labour government to put “divisive rhetoric” around active travel to bed “once and for all” with “coherent and committed” investment for cycling

Cycling UK has asked the new Labour government to show its commitment to improving active travel in the country by allocating 10 per cent of the total transport budget to cycling and walking, while also moving away from the culture war and the “divisive rhetoric” around the topic stirred by the previous government.

To put forth a stark contrast from the Conservative Party that’s held power at Westminster since 2010 as promised by the Labour during its general election campaign and manifesto, the charity is asking for a “coherent and committed” investment in cycling for transport.

As first reported by The Guardian, the call from Cycling UK comes after a survey it commissioned, which looked into the reasons people don’t ride a bike, and found that almost half cited safety worries, especially amongst the older demographic.

The survey found that despite 92 per cent of UK adults knowing how to ride a bike, fewer than half do, with 48 per cent of people citing road safety as the reason why they do not cycle.

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The charity stresses that while cycling is safer than many people believe and has become more so in recent years, the perception around it being a dangerous activity and not offering the same safety as a car or an SUV would, still is major barrier for many people to consider cycling as a means of transport or leisure.

Cycling UK believes, and as many research, studies and reports have shown, that this can be addressed by building cycling-focused infrastructure that segregate vulnerable users from motor traffic, such as cycle lanes.

The poll also found that almost 70 per cent people want to see more of bike lanes, despite the vocal opposition found on social media and even reported by many media publishers.

It has called on the Labour government to commit 10 per cent of the total transport budget to active travel, arguing this would bring huge dividends for public health and the environment.

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Sarah Mitchell, Cycling UK’s chief executive, said: “The findings in this survey show that there is real appetite in the UK to encourage more cycling, more routes and the building of better infrastructure to ensure people are kept safe while cycling.

“The public recognise the benefits and are desperate to enjoy them. With political will and proportionate funding, we can make that future a reality.”

Mitchell called for any debate on the issue to be led by evidence, saying this was too often not the case under the latter stages of the previous government: “We are hopeful that this kind of divisive rhetoric will be put to bed once and for all.”

Under the Tory Government, active travel had become a major topic to incite this divisive rhetoric, with policies and infrastructure such low traffic neighbourhoods, 15-minute cities, 20mph speed limits, ULEZ, and bus and bike lanes bearing the brunt of the party’s attempt at stoking culture wars.

Conservative leader Rishi Sunak had already painted the picture of the Tories as being the party of the motorists, with the former prime minister and even declaring that there existed a “war on motorists” that needed to be fought and stopped.

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In July last year, CyclingUK accused Sunak of seeking to exploit division over LTNs and urged him not to use low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) as a “political football” after he ordered the Department for Transport (DfT) to undertake a review of them.

The review itself became another scandal during the previous government’s chequered tenure, as it tried to bury the findings of the report that concluded that LTNs are effective in reducing traffic and generally popular among residents.

When the report was finally made public, London’s Cycling and Walking Commissioner Will Norman attacked the government for continuing with its “load of angry rhetoric against LTNs, 20mph & even bus lane cameras”, despite its own research proving the benefits.

The said rhetoric came in the form of a new guidance from Department of Transport (DfT) under the government’s ‘Plan for Drivers’, titled ‘Crackdown on anti-driver road schemes and blanket 20mph limits to put local consent first’.

The guidance says that councils will only be able to implement LTNs if they have the support from locals. Failure to do so could see future funding withdrawn and the government could take control of an authority's roads.

Louise Haigh MP, the newly instated transport secretary, said the publication of the guidance was “a blatant and desperate attempt to distract people from a government that has run out of road”.

Recently, Haigh was labelled as a “new convert” for cycling, as a few months after she made controversial comments about cycling, which she later described as a “light-hearted joke”, she finally got round to travelling through her Sheffield constituency by e-bike, which she says has the potential to “make all the difference” in encouraging even those wary of the city’s hills to cycle more.

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In remarks to Department for Transport staff when she first took over the job, Haigh called efforts to make transport more environmentally friendly “the critical thread weaving through every priority”.

“A huge amount has been achieved through your work on the switch to zero emission vehicles and sustainable aviation fuels, and we are looking forward to building on that,” she told them.

“But we will also get straight to work on our plans to make public transport and active travel much more attractive choices.”