Author name: Steven Edwards

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What Rupa Huq is getting wrong on low traffic neighbourhoods – Medium


Sarah Berry
In an address to Parliament earlier this week, the Member of Parliament for Ealing Central and Acton, Rupa Huq, asked a question of her peers. Dialing in over Zoom from her home, Huq raised the issue of women’s safety on the UK’s streets, which in light of the recent kidnap and murder of South London woman Sarah Everard, is understandably at the forefront of many minds.
But in a confusing move to many, Huq didn’t reference women’s safety generally, but instead she specifically asked about the connection between safety and low traffic neighbourhoods, urging her peers to ensure that any reappraisal of LTNs across the country ensure

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Lockdown did not reduce air pollution from tyre wear in London | The Guardian


Gary Fuller 26/03/21
Less traffic meant less congestion, but the remaining vehicles went fasterI asked William Hicks how he felt when lockdown suddenly happened in the middle of his year-long air pollution investigation. “Excited,” he replied. Not the answer that I expected. “It was like moving the field laboratory to a whole new road.” Hicks, and his team from Imperial College London, were studying tiny particles from tyres, brakes and road surfaces on London’s Marylebone Road.The inside of the field laboratory is a noisy environment full of the rattle of pumps, as an array of equipment measures the size and chemical nature of the air pollution. Hicks was measuring metal particles in the air to work out how much pollution came from each source. Barium particles are released from brake pads and zinc, used to vulcanise rubber.

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The true cost of driving in cities? – transportxtra


Even now, after everyone has been told to stay at home, any of those who have the time and money are back in their cars. It’s really important to remember that it is a luxury, an expensive luxury that isn’t available to as many people as we think.

Fresh data shows that Manchester is the most expensive UK city to drive in, costing on average £1,058.99 based on fuel, insurance, parking and MOT. Yet still in Greater Manchester there are around 250 million car journeys of less than one kilometre each year – the equivalent of a 15-minute walk or a five-minute bike ride. 
Some have noticed that driving might be a tad expensive, like the insurance companies, who have higher profits left over from the fact people weren’t driving around and crashing into each other.

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Pop-Up Cycleways And Low Traffic Neighborhoods Not Delaying Ambulances, Say NHS Trusts – forbes.com

:excerptstartCarlton Reid 26/03/21A Freedom of Information (FoI) investigation of NHS ambulance trusts in England, Scotland and Wales has found that none were opposed to the new pop-up cycleways or “low traffic neighbourhoods” (LTNs) installed during the COVID-19 lockdown last year.The FoI requests were placed by member organisation Cycling UK.The so-called “active travel” schemes were funded by the Department for Transport

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ULEZ extension could save Southwark NHS £100 million by 2050 – southwarknews.co.uk


Katherine Johnston
The ultra-low emission zone is set to expand to the North and South Circular roads in October this year
The extension of the ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) to include all inner London boroughs will save NHS services in Southwark nearly £100 million by 2050, a study claims, writes Kit Heren…
The ULEZ will expand from central London to the North and South Circular roads on October 25. The zone already includes part of Southwark, from Blackfriars Bridge in the north-west to the Elephant & Castle roundabout in the south, and Tower Bridge Road in the east.
The study, carried out by Lumen Health on behalf of Transport for London and the Greater London Authority, suggests that the ULEZ will cut diseases linked to air pollution in London by nearly 30%, possibly saving the NHS £4 billion in total over the next 30 years.
Some £97.8 million of that could be saved in Southwark – money that can be ploughed back into local services, a local politician said. 

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Every village, every hour 2021 buses report: full report – CPRE


This report builds upon previous research from CPRE, the countryside charity into rural ‘transport deserts’ to set out what a comprehensive bus network for England would look like, with services to every village every hour, and the scale of investment we need to make this vision a reality.
The aim of this report is to show how we can have a bus system that is fit for the climate emergency and that will put an end to the inequality and social exclusion caused by the current car dominance of rural life.

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