Use cycling and walking fund well or lose it, councils told!

Kaya Burgess, Chris Smyth
Monday September 07 2020, 12.01am, The Times

Councils’ efforts to boost cycling have been criticised by some
businesses and residents

Councils have been told that they will get no more cash from a cycling
and walking fund if they carry on abusing it with “random one-way
systems� and pointless barriers.

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, said that he would scrap the
worst traffic restrictions that had been imposed using a £250 million
coronavirus scheme design to promote green transport. “Where some
councils have abused the cash, my message is clear: speak to local
residents, get it fixed or no more cash,� he warned.

Critics of the traffic-reduction measures have said that they affect
businesses, motorists and people with limited mobility and were rushed
in without consultation.

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Shapps insisted that done well,
efforts to boost walking and cycling were “transforming our towns and
cities, offering people the chance to walk and cycle safely, improving
our fitness, health and the environment around us�.

But he conceded that “Some councils have introduced random one-way
systems, which don’t seem to offer many benefits to anyone. Some of
those plastic barriers that have gone up in town centres to widen the
pavements can actually prevent pedestrians, including disabled people,
crossing the road.�


Meanwhile councils are hoping that a change in the colour and language
of their signs might end hostilities with some residents’ groups. Large
wooden planters full of flowers and bearing “road closed� signs in red
have been placed across residential roads, but concerns have been raised
that they provoke anger from drivers who find their route barred.

In response, councils are adopting green signs bearing the words “Road
open to� and images of children playing, a wheelchair user and a bicycle.

The creation of “low-traffic neighbourhoods� has divided communities.
Many residents have welcomed the reduction in pollution, danger and
congestion outside their homes, as their streets have been “transformed
from dangerous thoroughfares to playgrounds for local children�.

However, some residents and businesses, described as a “vocal minority�
by transport chiefs, have expressed concern that the measures push
traffic on to other roads and restrict car access to high street shops.
Some drivers have been spotted dragging barriers out of the road or
mounting pavements to get round them.


Last month a planter in Ealing, west London, with a red “road closed�
sign was daubed with graffiti that read “abuse of power� within 24 hours
of its installation.

Sarah Berry, the campaigner who designed the green alternatives, said:
“The green ‘road open’ signs are so important because they speak
directly to the road users too often excluded.�

Officials in London have said they want to avoid a return to high levels
of “car dependence� after the pandemic. The Sustrans charity has counted
at least 754 road changes around the country.

Will Norman, London’s cycling and walking commissioner, said there could
be “an extreme difference of opinion� over the schemes but that
protesters represented a vocal minority. He said councils needed to
avoid “gridlock and an air pollution crisis� when the pandemic ends.

The problem of rat-running is believed to have been exacerbated by
satnavs sending drivers down backstreets.