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The Government is in “serious danger” of missing its targets to increase levels of cycling and walking in England unless there is an increase in funding, three leading cycling and walking charities said yesterday.
Giving evidence to the House of Commons Transport Committee inquiry into Active Travel, Cycling UK, Sustrans and Living Streets urged the Government to make a ‘significant increase’ in investment in active travel to address a ‘public health crisis’.
The Government’s Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS), published in 2016, sets out to double the number of cycling trips by 2025. However, in a safety review document to support the strategy published last November, the DfT admitted its current policy would only see cycling increase by a third over the next six years.
Currently, only 2% of total transport spending is on cycling and walking. Cycling UK, Living Streets and Sustrans have said this should rise to at least 5% by 2020 and 10% by 2024.
Roger Geffen, Cycling UK’s associate director of policy, who gave evidence to the committee, said: “Cycling is a miracle pill that can cure a lot of the ills this Government is facing with air pollution and the physical health problems associated with inactivity.
“However, by its own admission the Government is not going to meet its own modest targets to double cycling, which Cycling UK believes is due to inadequate funding. Cycling UK believes Government should rebalance its spending to local solutions to car dependence. It’s not the people currently cycling who will benefit from more funding, but rather those who feel forced to drive those short distances to school, work or the shops due to having no suitable alternative.”
Joe Irvin, chief executive of Living Streets, said: “Enabling more people to walk and cycle everyday journeys can hugely improve our health, air quality, traffic congestion and road safety. Government need to invest to make this happen. In particular the government needs to encourage and enable more children to walk to school, or it will fail to meet its own target of 55% of primary school children walking to school by 2025.”
Rachel White, senior policy and political advisor for Sustrans, said: “We welcome the UK Government’s work on walking and cycling in England to date. The Government now needs to up its game on the low cycling levels and the decreasing numbers of children walking to school.
"Physical inactivity, air pollution, climate change and struggling high streets can all be reduced through the provision of high quality infrastructure such as a network of protected cycle lanes and pedestrianisation of our shopping centres. This requires sustained, long-term investment in cycling and walking but we need real cross departmental leadership and investment now to make the change. Additionally, any increase in funding nationally must be matched with a commitment to delivery at a local level.”
Cycling UK and Living Streets are running a joint campaign, supported by Sustrans, urging the Government to allocate more funding to authorities devising plans to encourage cycling and walking.
