The Green Party has said the latest government announcement of £32.9 million to create a national network of walking and cycling experts [1] doesn’t come close to delivering the active travel revolution we need.
The funding announced this week aims to support local authorities to enhance their technical skills so that high-quality schemes can be delivered which make it easier and safer for hundreds of thousands more people to walk and cycle.
Green Party transport spokesperson and Leader of the Green Party Group on Bradford Council, Matt Edwards, said:
"It is always welcome to see new funding to help develop world class active travel networks across England. Active Travel England wants 50% of trips in England’s urban areas to be walked, cycled or made by other active travel means by 2030 [2].
“However, this goal is being undermined whilst our local Councils continue to treat active travel as an afterthought. Retraining staff is a good place to start but the government needs to be much more ambitious.
“£33 million is a drop in the ocean when you consider the billions in the Department of Transport budget - £16 billion alone is allocated to just five road building schemes [3].
“Training new teams of experts is pointless without the funding to deliver the programme of schemes we need. The government needs to follow through and get serious about reducing traffic levels and boosting active travel by switching the billions earmarked for building new roads into investing in healthy walking, cycling and other forms of active travel."
Notes
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/active-travel-england/about
3. https://transportactionnetwork.org.uk/campaign/scrap-road-schemes-to-grow-economy/