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As our executive editor noted, the plan never had guaranteed funding in place, but now it seems increasingly likely that Boris Johnson’s £913 million plan for cycling will be curbed by cuts.
According to a report in The Evening Standard, transport chiefs are planning to cut back on the east-west 15-mile separated cycleway through London and road junction improvements for cyclists – as well as a number of non-cycle related transport initiatives, including bus travel concessions for young people.
According to the Standard, £640m of the £913m set out by the Mayor is subject to Treasury approval and early indications of the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review on June 26th suggest transport programmes are particularly vulnerable. The report also suggest a split between the Mayor and Transport for London on the priority given to London’s cycle infrastructure projects.
2010’s Comprehensive Spending Review inevitably saw cuts across a wide range of areas, from the welfare budget to police funding. Specifically, the axe swung on the Department for Transport’s annual budget, trimming it from £13.1bn to £11.6bn.
