Cycling UK says it’s imperative the Government rebalances transport funding, in light of a new report which shows nearly all targets are being missed in its plans to hit net zero.
The Climate Change Committee (CCC) latest annual report, titled “Progress in Reducing UK Emissions: 2023 Report to Parliament”, is highly critical in its remarks around transport.
It concludes that the lack of urgency from the government and a failure of political leadership means progress has stalled.
Among the recommendations on transport were reversing active travel cuts, a review of future road building, as well as measures to reduce car demand, limiting motor traffic growth and giving more people the option to choose walking or cycling over driving.
Cycling UK says cycling has the power to fight climate change.
Sarah Mitchell, Cycling UK’s chief executive, said: “The Climate Change Committee has shown there is an urgent need to rebalance transport funding and stop relying on technological solutions to address tomorrow’s problems.
“To meet net-zero, the government needs to overcome its addiction to building roads, reverse the cuts to cycling and walking and invest to enable people to drive less and cycle more.”
As the report outlines, the Government’s active travel budget received a substantial hit in March 2023. Dedicated capital funding for cycling and walking was cut by 75%, from around £200m per year in the past two years, to just £50m a year for this year and next.
This led the National Audit Office to find in its report of June 2023 that the Government is failing to invest enough in active travel to meet its own modest targets of doubling cycling by 2025.
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