{"id":316565,"date":"2025-12-15T03:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T03:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/316565\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T03:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T03:32:10","slug":"people-are-not-one-thing-or-another-labour-transport-chief-condemns-shameful-tory-cycling-culture-wars-but-campaigners-slam-government-active-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/316565\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cPeople are not one thing or another\u201d: Labour transport chief condemns \u201cshameful\u201d Tory cycling culture wars \u2013 but campaigners slam government active travel \u2018cuts\u2019 while \u201cwasting billions on big road schemes\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The so-called \u2018war on the motorist\u2019 is over, a Labour transport minister has said, after the previous Conservative government inflamed tensions on the road by \u201cshamefully\u201d pitting drivers\u00a0against cyclists, claiming that Labour \u201cwants to create a system that work for everybody\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Guardian<\/a> following the government\u2019s announcement that \u00a3626 million has been allocated to local authorities in England to fund approximately 500 miles of new walking and cycling infrastructure<\/a>, Lilian Greenwood, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Transport, insisted that Labour is \u201ctaking active travel seriously\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, despite Greenwood’s stated aim to make the UK’s road safer for cyclists, the Transport Action Network campaign group has criticised the\u00a0recent\u00a0funding announcement\u00a0as a “fall in real terms”,\u00a0claiming Labour are still “wasting billions on big road schemes” while “wheeling out a few vague words” in favour of cycling.<\/p>\n

TAN’s\u00a0analysis is based on annual departmental spending<\/a> allocated to local authorities and compared with spending investments made\u00a0in 2021-22<\/a>, and subsequently adjusted for inflation.<\/p>\n

The group claims that the government’s \u00a3160 million annual investment, compared with \u00a3200 million in 2021-22, represents a real-term funding cut of 36 per cent.<\/p>\n

However, the chosen data points exclude the wide-scale funding cuts carried out under the Conservatives under Rishi Sunak. Then, funding was cut by 65 percent<\/a> and the scheme of sustained, multi-year funding was ended.<\/p>\n

TAN subsequently took the government to court over that decision, claiming that the systemic active travel funding cuts were unlawful and incompatible with the legal framework provided by the government’s own Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy. The Court of Appeal sided with TAN unanimously<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Therefore, whilst the government’s latest funding is a decrease relative to 2021-22, it is a substantial increase on the most recent\u00a0annual funding allocations made in 2024 and 2023.<\/p>\n

Following the Court of Appeal’s ruling, TAN called for a \u00a3250 million uplift in funding, compensating for the illegal spending cuts, adjusted for inflation and interest. That has not been forthcoming.<\/p>\n

\"CommuterCommuter cyclists in London stopped at light with van in background (credit: Simon MacMichael)<\/p>\n

Instead, in announcing the \u00a3626 million funding<\/a>, to be distributed to local authorities over the next four years,\u00a0the government said the\u00a0investment “demonstrates our clear commitment to making walking, wheeling and cycling safer and more accessible for everyone”.<\/p>\n

“By backing councils with the funding and support they need, we are helping to create healthier communities, safer streets and greener local transport choices,” Labour said.<\/p>\n

Government must \u201cmove from good intentions to a clear long-term plan\u201d for cycling, campaigners warn, as \u00a3626 million active travel investment announced<\/a><\/p>\n

The funding also represents Labour\u2019s attempt to move away from the divisive rhetoric around active travel that punctuated the Conservatives\u2019 last few years in power, especially after Boris Johnson stepped down as prime minister, a policy Greenwood described as \u201cinfuriating\u201d and which had potential consequences for safety and tensions on the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are issues on our roads,\u201d she told the Guardian. \u201cI obviously spend a lot of time thinking about this in relation to the work that we\u2019re doing in developing the road safety strategy, and some of it is about trying to create that culture of mutual respect between everyone using our roads.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think it\u2019s really damaging to that. We want to create a system that works for everybody. It\u2019s really frustrating to see and it speaks to the mixed messages from the previous government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if Labour believed there was a \u2018war against the motorist\u2019, as Rishi Sunak claimed, Greenwood said: \u201cI think the opposition want to create some sense of that. But people are not one thing or another. A lot of people who cycle, also drive; a lot of people who drive, also walk or sometimes take public transport.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that\u2019s not how we want our roads to be thought of at all. We want to build a system that makes journeys safer, easier and affordable for everyone, and that should be our starting point.\u201d<\/p>\n

>\u00a0Rishi Sunak is \u201con the side\u201d of drivers \u2013 What happened to Britain\u2019s \u201cgolden age for cycling\u201d?<\/a><\/p>\n

Greenwood also said that a proper strategy for improved safety on the roads was \u201cprobably top of my list\u201d in terms of priorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, roughly 1,600 people were killed on our roads, and 29,500 seriously injured, and that has been flatlining pretty much for the last decade. That is unacceptable,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe in the department don\u2019t talk about road traffic accidents. We talk about collisions or crashes because 90 per cent of those feature someone making a bad decision or a wrong choice. They\u2019re preventable, and it requires determination, leadership and action to make a big difference to that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite shameful that the last government did so little to tackle that and didn\u2019t have a proper road safety strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CyclistsCyclists in London talking in cycle lane (credit: Simon MacMichael)<\/p>\n

Greenwood added that\u00a0“what campaigners want is for us to take active travel really seriously. It\u2019s about long-term funding certainty so you can properly plan.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, she refused to be drawn on clear targets for walking and cycling, which had been lobbied for in a letter signed by more than 50 organisations including British Cycling, Cycling UK and the British Medical Association. The letter also lobbied for a return to “predictable cycles” of investment funding, a call that appears to have been heeded.<\/p>\n

It comes as the government’s latest Cycling and Walking Investment strategy is due to close its public consultation on Monday.<\/p>\n

TAN is calling on its supporters to write to the government calling for “more funding and ambition” in its proposals, adding in its statement that “instead of delivering high value for money healthy travel schemes, the Labour government is wasting billions of pounds on big road schemes.”<\/p>\n

“Increasing cycling and walking would boost the economy, especially our cherished local high streets,\u201d TAN\u2019s director Chris Todd said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would help realise Labour\u2019s preventative health agenda, and environmental promises. Instead of a bold new plan to deliver on these ambitions, ministers wheeled out a few vague words and reduced the funding. They\u2019ve also given very little time for people to have their say on these last-minute changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can ministers say increasing physical activity would save our NHS over \u00a310 billion a year, then shrink dedicated funding for healthy travel to \u00a3160m a year? If Labour is serious about growth and an NHS fit for the future, it\u2019s time to switch the cash away from unproductive road schemes.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week’s\u00a0funding announcement was also\u00a0accompanied by a grading of every local authority in England for its active travel capability, with funding distributed partly in accordance with the findings. Nine councils were upgraded, the Tees Valley were downgraded and no council was found to yet demonstrate an “established culture of active travel”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The so-called \u2018war on the motorist\u2019 is over, a Labour transport minister has said, after the previous Conservative…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-316565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}