Author name: Steven Edwards

Bikes are still flying off the shelves in the UK as the latest market data sales figures show 40% growth by value and 25% by volume, year on year, to the end of May 2021 – but increasing motor traffic and supply issues may be holding back further growth. 

For the first time sales figures offer a direct comparison with the bike boom of the UK’s first lockdown in 2020, with sales March-May 2021 up 7% by value and 25% by volume compared with the same period last year.

At one point last year, almost four times as many journeys as usual were being taken by bike, but usage has gone back to normal levels since then.

The charity Sustrans says cyclists need to feel safer and wants more 20mph zones and more effective cycle lanes.
The government said it had “ambitious plans to boost walking and cycling”.
It promised to set out more details soon.
According to official statistics, road journeys taken by cyclists surged during the first lockdown last year, reaching a high point of 3.84 times the normal level on 5 May.

Matthew Weaver
Unesco has confirmed that Stonehenge could be stripped of its world heritage site status, over its concern that a road tunnel, backed by the government, would irreversibly damage an area of “outstanding universal value”.
A report to Unesco’s world heritage committee setting out concerns about the £1.7bn A303 road tunnel was approved unchanged on Thursday. Unless the designs for the two-mile (3.3km) tunnel are extended and changed, the committee recommends placing Stonehenge on Unesco’s list of world heritage in danger next year.
Last month the high court was told that a decision by Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, to approve the tunnel last November was unlawful because it did not properly consider damage that would be done to a string of prehistoric sites and many thousands of ancient artefacts.

Donnachadh McCarthy 1 day ago
Shapps repeats the fairytale that we will be walking and cycling for almost half of all trips in our cities and towns by 2030. But there was not a penny in his plan to support this

‘It is crucial to remember that all emissions in 2021 demolish the idea of a zero carbon 2050’
Boris Johnson famously wrote two versions of his newspaper column on Brexit. One backed Remain and one backed Brexit. Only the Brexit version got published – the rest is history.

Laura Laker

Leisure cycling up by 60% in some areas but campaigners say safer routes needed post-pandemic

Transport secretary Grant Shapps has been accused of “fiddling while the planet burns”, in response to his road building policy.
The damning indictment was made by campaign group Transport Action Network after the Department for Transport (DfT) unveiled more details about its review of the National Networks Policy Statement (NNPS).

Halfords has announced that it is calling on the Government to introduce new incentives to make it easier for people to use an e-Bike for their daily commute.
Research commissioned by the company has showed that six in ten UK workers are not able to work flexibly, meaning that many of them will be returning to full time commuting. Additionally, a surge in cases has seen one in three workers say they are apprehensive about returning to public transport.

Planners can effectively ignore climate change when they are deciding whether to grant permission for new road schemes, environmentalists have said.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has promised a review of £27bn highways policy which will be completed within two years.
But in the meantime, planners can use existing guidelines.
Campaigners say these ignore the cumulative effects of major road projects.
They say Mr Shapps should be blocking new schemes until a new climate-friendly policy is developed.