Transport Secretary Grant Shapps U-Turns On “Cycling Revolution” Urging Councils To Again Prioritize Motorists

“No one should be in doubt about our support for motorists,” the U.K. Transport Secretary has told English local authorities, a full reverse of his position given in front of TV cameras on May 24.

According to The Sunday Telegraph, Shapps has written to councils telling them to stop putting the needs of cyclists and pedestrians over those of motorists.

Councils may be forgiven for being confused about this latest stance because, back in May, Shapps used the government’s daily coronavirus briefing to reveal that walking and cycling would become the norm for urban travel, with motor cars pushed to the periphery.

He predicted that we would not “return to how things were” but “come out of this recovery stronger, by permanently changing the way we use transport.” 

Shapps stressed that the government would be “speeding up the cycling revolution, helping individuals become fitter and healthier. And reducing air pollution, which remains a hidden killer.” 

In March, Shapps wrote a foreword to a Department for Transport (DfT) plan to “decarbonize” transport saying that, in the future, “we will use our cars less.” 

In July, the DfT explicitly said the plan was to “reallocate road space” away from motorists and councils were urged to be bold.

Earlier, the councils were told that millions of pounds would be “released as soon as possible so that work can begin at pace on closing roads to through traffic, installing segregated cycle lanes and widening pavements,” said a letter sent to English local authorities on May 27. 

“To receive any money under this or future tranches, you will need to show us that you have a swift and meaningful plan to reallocate road space to cyclists and pedestrians, including strategic corridors,” continued the letter, signed by Rupert Furness, a deputy director of the Department for Transport in London. 

The letter told local authorities that walking and cycling are now “essential” forms of transport that can “help us avoid overcrowding on public transport systems as we begin to open up parts of our economy.” 

Furness, who works for the Active and Accessible Travel unit within the Department for Transport (DfT), stressed: “We have a window of opportunity to act now to embed walking and cycling as part of new long-term commuting habits and reap the associated health, air quality and congestion benefits.” 

£250 million of “Emergency Active Travel Funding” was announced by the DfT in May. 

The DfT told councils to “begin at pace on closing roads to through traffic, installing segregated cycle lanes and widening [sidewalks].” 

While welcoming the spread of pop-up cycleways, Furness said they could be “more difficult to implement quickly” so local authorities should prioritize “point closures.” That is, “closing certain main roads or parallel side streets” to motor traffic. 

Many of these closures, and associated pop-up cycleways, were considered to be temporary but a survey for the local authorities revealed that the DfT would also consider “permanent segregated cycleways” and “new permanent footways.” 

The DfT letter to council urged speed and ambition: “Anything that does not meaningfully alter the status quo on the road will not be funded,” stated Furness.

Those local authorities that acted swiftly and with purpose could, continued the letter, expect to receive further funds “to install further, more permanent measures to cement cycling and walking habits.”

New normal

The new and startling emphasis on cycling and walking from the government came from the very top.

Before he became Prime Minister Boris Johnson was an everyday bicycle commuter and when he swept into power he appointed journalist Andrew Gilligan as his transport advisor. Gilligan was cycling commissioner when Johnson was Mayor of London, and it was Gilligan, not Johnson, that was most responsible for pushing through London’s protected cycleway program.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps took his lead from Johnson and—before the new letter revealed by the Telegraph—had become a vocal champion of active transport.  

Many of the pop-up cycleways and widened sidewalks were installed using COVID-specific emergency traffic regulation orders introduced by the government in June which required consultations to be undertaken after a trial period rather than asking for views beforehand. 

“We are not prepared to tolerate hastily introduced schemes, which will create sweeping changes to communities, without consultation,” he is reported to have written in the latest letter. If the Telegraph hasn’t left out key parts of the letter this reverses his department’s guidance.

Now, according to the Sunday newspaper, his position states that the “benefits to cycling and walking” must not “outweigh the dis-benefits for other road users.”

Again, this would be a reversal of his previous position.

Golden age for cycling

Back in May, Boris Johnson promised the near future “should be a new golden age for cycling.” He made this comment in parliament during Prime Minister’s question time. 

The letter from Shapps appears to backtrack on this promise and, if so, would be the latest of many U-turns by Johnson’s administration.