Cycling UK has accused the UK government of hiding evidence that would show investment for cycling and walking falls far short of what is needed.
The charity claimed the government is suppressing a report from parliament which highlights that a significant increase in funding is required, adding that prime minister Boris Johnson’s “plan for unleashing our nation of cyclists” was doomed to fail.
According to Cycling UK, in February, transport secretary Grant Shapps told the transport committee that £2bn was enough to meet the government’s targets. However, the charity’s policy director, Roger Geffen, has claimed that the unpublished report, commissioned by the Department for Transport and allegedly kept from parliament, will show the government knew £2bn was only a fraction of what was needed to meet their aims.
Giving evidence at the House of Commons transport committee’s inquiry, Reforming public transport after the pandemic, Geffen, said: “The government has sat on research over the last 14 months, and our understanding is that it shows £2bn is only about a quarter to a third of what is needed to meet the government’s own targets to double cycling and increase walking by 2025.
“It’s really important the government is clear about what its targets are and that it publishes the research that shows whether the funding is adequate to hit their targets and then act on the findings of the [suppressed] research as it sets its budgets for cycling and walking in the spending review.”
Cycling UK has now called on the government to publish the report and follow the recommendations with a view to increasing funding levels for cycling and walking to between £6bn and £8bn over the next four years.
“We’re going in the wrong direction rather than boosting local authorities’ capacity to scale up their abilities to spend at the levels we need to be spending if we’re going to meet the government’s targets” Geffen said.
While no further funding for cycling and walking in England was announced in the chancellor’s 2021 budget, published last week, the Welsh government’s budget allocated a further £50m to active travel measures, while in Scotland an additional £15m for cycling and walking was announced.
