Author name: Steven Edwards

“I’m no eco-warrior but I really have become a convert. I enjoy cycling past motionless traffic.” So says Shane Topley, a self-employed plumber based in West London who switched a couple of years ago to using an e-cargo bike for most of his work trips

In the past two decades, the number of vans on our roads has almost doubled. While car emissions are coming down, albeit slowly, emissions from vans are going up, with a 56 per cent increase in between 1990 and 2019, alongside the air pollution and congestion they also cause.

As Green Alliance has highlighted before, a strategy of switching to alternative modes of transport, combined with technological change, is needed to cut carbon emissions. When it comes to technology, electrification is the clear solution for vans. Electric vans can replace diesel models like for like, leading to four times fewer emissions.

The incident is believed to have taken place overnight

Cars have been smashed into and spray painted with the word ‘MOVE’ during an overnight spree of vandalism in Leigh.
Residents of Glover Street have woken up to their car windows smashed, and the word ‘MOVE’ spray painted onto it in bright yellow. Images posted in a local Facebook group show at least three cars affected.
The incident has sparked discussion about ‘pavement parking’ in the comments, with some suggesting the cars were targeted because of their placement on the pavements. But others have lashed out at the vandalism, calling it ‘appalling’.
One commenter said the way the cars are parked meant buggies and wheelchairs would not be able to get through, branding it ‘not acceptable’. 

The latest annual Travel in London report shows some promising signs. Cycling has increased by 40 per cent since the start of the pandemic, including a near-doubling of journeys on weekends. This is impressive, particularly when the total number of trips by all modes of transport remains 11 per cent down on pre-Covid levels.
The Mayor has an ambitious target that 80 per cent of all trips in the capital be made on foot, by cycle or using public transport by 2041. This went into reverse during the pandemic and the early recovery, but is now back on the right track.
To keep it up, we need to see further investment in segregated cycle lanes and fewer retrograde steps, such as the bizarre decision taken by Kensington and Chelsea council to scrap its cycle scheme. We must consider more pedestrianised zones, including on Oxford Street, rather than risk consigning what was once Europe’s premier shopping street to decline.

Nov 2022
Residents and businesses are being encouraged to have their say and find out more about the feasibility of introducing a ‘Mini-Holland’ scheme in a Nottinghamshire town at a series of events through December.
A Mini-Holland scheme in Stapleford aims to make an area, over time, as cycle and pedestrian-friendly as possible by making changes to the local roads to make walking and cycling trips in the area easier and more pleasant.

Dozens of towns and cities in Britain are at risk of disappearing into the sea within 80 years, new maps predict.
The maps, published by news organisation Climate Central, present a sobering image of the disastrous effects of climate change on the UK.
Climate Central has predicted that much of London could be underwater by 2100.
A 3˚C global temperature rise would have a “disastrous impact” for Britain, the non-profit organisation said.
And it’s not just Britain at risk. Climate Central estimates that 275 million people live in the areas that will go underwater by 2100.

E-bikes seen as natural replacement to cars in cost of living crisis

15 November 2022
Half the respondents to a survey believe that, faced with the cost of living crisis, electric bikes are the natural replacement for cars.
Cycle advocacy campaign Bike is Best commissioned the survey to explore the impact the rising cost of living is having on people’s habits.
Of the 2,000 respondents, two thirds (69%) have changed or are considering changing their transport behaviour, with 86% citing saving money as the reason for the change.
The study found that 84% plan to drive a lot less