Government slash cycling funding...again

It was only ever a matter of time before the Active Travel Policy was shafted. The news that £200m has been slashed from the government’s Active Travel Policy should hardly come as a surprise, given the government record for cutting back on cycling initiatives. 

 It is hardly worth me commenting on. Except to say its further evidence to support my belief that no British government will ever provide decent funding to support a network of town and city and urban cycling routes necessary to reduce congestion and pollution. And I’ve reported on this shit fest for 50 years. 

Royce Road cycling and walking crossing, Manchester. Will the cut in cycling budget put an end to such innovative schemes?

 According to Cycling UK, the national cycling organisation, the active travel funding has been reduced from £3.8bn to £3bn in England. This means, say Cycling UK, that “there is no way the English Government can meet its own target that 50% of journeys in towns and cities should be walked or cycled by 2030.” 

 Here's a time line of a few ideas which have come and gone. In 1996 the Conservatives launched the National Cycling Strategy to great acclaim - except there was no funding for it. Until some years later when under a Labour government, £5m - a pittance - was provided and Cycling England was born, to encourage Cycling Development Towns. 

The funding was increased a number of times, but still  ranked as peanuts in the great scheme of things.

Nevertheless,  with what little money they had towns willing to take part in this venture were helped to develop a cycling scheme which most suited them, perhaps a short cycling lane to a school, or cycle parking. It proved a huge success in generating cycling showing that if cycling was provided for it would put bums on bikes. In all something like 27 towns took part. 

Then along came a Conservative government wanting to save money and they killed Cycling England - together with a load of other Quangos set up to deliver various policies. In 2013 we had the acclaimed "Get Britain Cycling" report, welcomed by prime minister David Cameron who spoke glowingly of it. Would he now provide funding for it? Oh, no, he said. Get Britain Cycling should be left to the Local Authorities to implement, he said. Even though we all knew the LA's in most cases lacked the political will, the money and the expertise of get the job done. 

 And now fate has seen to it that the Active Travel Policy has been seriously injured by the Conservatives pleading they had no choice but to reduce costs. The government blames the cost of living crisis, the Ukraine war and short-lived former Prime Minister Liz Truss’s bombshell economic plan which plunged the UK into financial nightmare. This of course suits their purpose. 

It must have come as a great relief to those pulling government strings for the excellent Active Travel policy to be seriously injured in this way. It follows a pattern where they first bow to pressure to provide vocal support for cycling policy, then when put under further pressure they provide funding but too little to properly do the job and then, as is so often the case, cut the funding due to...oh, any number of excuses.

 They probably only put up the Active Travel Policy in the first place – together with all their other so-called carbon-reducing initiatives – because of pressure to do so. But what concerns them most are policies which may lose them votes from the fickle mindless majority. So cutting funding for Active Travel conveniently means they avoid what they have always feared the most, a voting backlash from the motoring public stirred up by the tabloid press, fearing loss of road space to cyclists. It was ever thus.