Carlton Reid
The Science and Environment Unit of BBC News has been accused of spreading falsehoods in a TV report on Low Traffic Neighborhoods (LTNs) broadcast on March 17.
The report is the “most-watched video on the BBC website at the moment,” said a TV news anchor at the end of BBC London News last night, and “rightly so,” he added.
“It’s neighbors fighting neighbors over the issue of Low Traffic Neighborhoods,” the anchor said.
“You need to see it to believe it.”
Indeed, in several ways, the report was unbelievable, including, says one parliamentarian, because it appears to breach BBC impartiality rules.
Lord Berkeley has written to the BBC’s director of editorial policy and standards, claiming that the report failed to meet the broadcaster’s editorial guidelines.
Among several other claims, a “contributor made a statement that a taxi driver could not access her property and this went unchallenged,” wrote Lord Berkeley, patron of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cycling and Walking.
“All residential properties remain accessible, albeit via a slightly longer route,” he stated.
March 2021 Newsletter | Christian Wolmar
Dear subscriber,
The ferocity of the arguments over low traffic neighbourhoods still never ceases to amaze me. I wrote, in a piece for LabourList, only half-jokingly that they had become the most controversial transport issue of the day, greater even than HS2 or the £27bn roads programme. The rows have continued and several LTNs have been removed by councils after strong opposition campaigns.
But how real are these campaigns? And what is motivating the people behind them?
Oxford plans summer launch for first Zero Emission Zone – transportxtra
Local Transport Today is the authoritative, independent journal for transport decision makers. Analysis, Comment & News on Transport Policy, Planning, Finance and Delivery since 1989.
Air Quality
A zero emission zone (ZEZ) is to be implemented in the core of Oxford city centre this summer, before a much larger zone is introduced next spring.
The initial ZEZ, described as a pilot, will be implemented in August covering a handful of streets in the city’s core, where traffic is already heavily restricted. The only public car parking within the zone is for Blue Badge holders who will be eligible for a 100 per cent discount.
Making trials inclusive – Blog post by Catriona Swanson
In last week’s blog about the various barriers to inclusive cycling, one of the barriers I talked about was routes being too narrow and cited a pop up cycle lane that had been recently installed.
There was quite a lot of chat about this on Twitter so, in this week’s post, I’ll be expanding on that topic by looking at some other examples where trials and pop up infrastructure have not been inclusive and talk about what we should be doing going forward.
Pop up cycle lanes
Firstly, let’s look at pop up cycle lanes in a bit more detail.
London teenagers’ road signs highlight effect of toxic air on people of colour | The Guardian
Matthew Taylor
Thu 11 Mar 2021
Choked Up group demands action from mayoral candidates to tackle traffic pollution
A group of teenagers who live in some of London’s most polluted neighbourhoods are putting “hacked” road signs up across the capital to highlight the disproportionate impact that toxic air has on people of colour.
Choked Up, a group who describe themselves as “black and brown teenagers from south London”, have set up the campaign, which is being backed by more than 100 doctors.
UK increase in cycling and walking must be nurtured, says minister | The Guardian
:excerptstartTransport minister cites £2bn fund as evidence of commitment to supporting ‘active travel’ The public’s growing enthusiasm for walking and cycling around UK towns and cities must be supported and encouraged as the country emerges from Covid-19 lockdowns, a minister has said.The transport minister Chris Heaton-Harris said there was huge interest in “active travel” in the UK and… [Read More]
School Streets reduce nitrogen dioxide by up to 23% during morning drop off – transportxtra
Survey reports 81% of parents and carers supported the measures at their children’s school
Closing the roads around schools to traffic at pick-up and drop-off times has reduced polluting nitrogen dioxide levels by up to 23% and is strongly supported by parents, new research published by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan reveals.
To measure the air quality benefits of the new School Streets, 30 sensors from the Breathe London network were installed at 18 primary schools across Brent, Enfield and Lambeth to record nitrogen dioxide levels.
Electric bike sales in the U.S. grew 145% from 2019 to 2020
:excerptstartLiberty Sheldon17 March, 2021 Spurred on by the coronavirus pandemic, bicycle sales rose 65% in the United States between 2019 and 2020, according to a report in the New York Times. Researchers at the NPD Group, which supplied the findings, also claim that electric bike sales grew by 145% in the same period. :excerpted link to original… [Read More]
London council ignites safety row as it rejects cycle lane plans | The Guardian
Calls for government intervention after Kensington and Chelsea leadership team’s decision
Campaigners have called for the government to intervene after a council rebuffed plans to reinstate a flagship cycle lane in central London, reigniting a controversy that has come to exemplify community battles around the country over safe travel amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The lane was installed last year in busy Kensington High Street as part of efforts to boost active travel during the pandemic, and was immediately controversial. Just seven weeks later, despite protests by a local school as well as cyclists who supported the lane, Kensington and Chelsea council took it out again.
Jenny Jones talks cycling’s funding shortfall and impact through protest -Cycle Industry News
Mark Sutton18 March, 2021
Having gathered the views of Labour and Conservative MPs previously, it’s time we gathered the thoughts of what one may assume to be the most natural alignment for the cycling market, The Green Party. CI.N speaks with Peer Jenny Jones on progressing the active travel agenda.
Back in December of 2019 when the Conservative Party, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party laid out their ‘Cycling Election Manifestos’ at Brompton’s Greenford headquarters three of the four were clearly geared up for a fight on cycling. It had become a genuine policy hot potato; and why not? After all, cycling is directly relevant to everything from the health service, through transport and the economy, not to mention the broader issue of climate change politics.
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