Author name: Steven Edwards

Rob Horgan

Internal emails sent between senior Highways England officials and members of the organisation’s Freedom of Information (FOI) team show deliberate attempts to obfuscate the FOI process, according to MPs and campaign groups.
In the emails – released to MPs and seen by NCE – Highways England officials discuss ways of “closing down the FOI/EIR [environmental information request] route in the future”.
The emails relate to an FOI request submitted by MP for Sefton Central Bill Esterson and campaign group Rimrose Valley Friends (RVF) in relation to the controversial A5036 Port of Liverpool access scheme that would demolish the 3.5km Rimrose Valley Country Park in Merseyside.
Specifically, Esterson had requested meeting notes between Highways England and stakeholders involved in the Port of Liverpool scheme.

January 26, 2021
Taken together, streets are the largest public space in New York City, adding up to an acreage nearly twice the size of the Bronx. More than three-quarters of that streetscape is dedicated to moving and storing vehicles. But for all the space given over to cars, only a minority of New Yorkers own one, and less than one in three trips citywide involve a car. This inequity is stark. The status quo must end.
A new poll, commissioned by Transportation Alternatives and conducted by the Siena College Research Institute, details New York City voters’ wide support for addressing that inequity and converting street space for more safe, equitable, and vibrant neighborhood use. The survey reveals that a majority of voters from households that own cars broadly support many of these street improvements too. With the 2021 elections approach, it’s clear that candidates running with a strong vision to reimagine New York City’s streetscape will have public opinion on their side.

North Somerset Council has withdrawn a plan to ban through traffic on a network of rural roads after a backlash from local residents.

On 31 March the council published an order to prohibit through traffic from a network of 34 lanes between Clevedon, Yatton, Nailsea, Claverham and Backwell. 
The intention of the ‘quiet rural lanes’ plan was to create a recreation space for cyclists and walkers and continue to give access to residents and businesses.

In recent years, various reports and studies have provided quantified estimates of the distribution of road space among different transport modes in various cities worldwide. In doing so, and inspired by broader discussions on transport and urban justice, they have sought to point out the unfairness of existing patterns of road space distribution. Although intuitively tempting, this paper argues that appeals in favour of a ‘fair’ distribution of road space are inherently problematic. In order to illustrate this point, the distribution of road space in Amsterdam is measured using GIS cartography and discussed in relation to various transport-related indicators.

Carlton Reid Apr 20, 2021
The U.K. will this week commit to steeper cuts in carbon emissions, reports the Financial Times. Prime minister Boris Johnson is set to adopt the recommendations made by the government’s independent advisory group, the Climate Change Committee.

The recommendations require, among many other things, a reduction in miles traveled by car and more travel on transit and a massive increase in walking and cycling.
Ahead of the UN’s COP26 climate summit to be held later this year in Glasgow, the U.K. government has accepted the Climate Change Committee’s goal to reduce emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels.
The new U.K. target—up from a previous pledge of a 68% reduction—will be announced during a climate summit on Thursday, when President Joe Biden is due to outline a new national goal for U.S. carbon reduction.
“Car travel dominates surface transport emissions,” said a Climate Change Committee report published last year.
“There are opportunities to reduce demand for car travel, through both societal and technological changes and by enabling journeys to be shifted onto lower-carbon modes of transport,” continued the report.

21/4/21
Climate scientists, transport planners and economists say pushing ahead with new road ‘foolhardy’

Roger Harrabin BBC environment analyst 19/4/21

Radical new climate change commitments will set the UK on course to cut carbon emissions by 78% by 2035, the UK government has announced.
Hitting the targets would require more electric cars, low-carbon heating, renewable electricity and, for many, cutting down on meat and dairy.
For the first time, climate law will be extended to cover international aviation and shipping.
But Labour said the government had to match “rhetoric with reality”.
It urged Boris Johnson to treat “the climate emergency as the emergency it is” and show “greater ambition”.
The prime minister’s commitments, which are to become law, bring forward the current target for reducing carbon emissions by 15 years. This would be a world-leading position.
Homes will need to be much better insulated, and people will be encouraged to drive less and walk and cycle more. Aviation is likely to become more expensive for frequent fliers.

• Tax fliers and get rid of SUVs, government told