Construction work has already been completed along 50km of the Meuse River floodplain as part of the Border Meuse project to undo 500 years of world-renowned Dutch water engineering. Big infrastructure is at the heart of the Dutch “offensive” – as opposed to “defensive” – approach to sorting out rivers, which involves relandscaping entire catchments, rather than rewetting specific at-risk areas. This approach is particularly revolutionary given that the seed for this project was planted decades ago. By contrast, the UK has only started thinking about implementing natural solutions at scale in the past few years.
The case for reforming vehicle taxation – Transport Xtra
Campaign for Better Transport report reveals public support for pay-as-you-drive scheme as fuel duty and VED replacement
Half of people in Britain support replacing fuel duty and vehicle excise duty with a pay-as-you-drive scheme, according to a report from Campaign for Better Transport that explores the best ways to frame the case for reform and to implement a new system with fairness at its heart.
Pay-as-you-drive: the British public’s views on vehicle taxation reform examined over 3,000 UK adults’ views on road pricing. It found that three out of five people (60%) believe vehicle taxation…
Inside the New Plan to Make Paris ‘100% Cyclable’ – bloomberg.com
Feargus O’Sullivan
This week, Paris announced a major upgrade of its cycling infrastructure that could make it one of the most bike-friendly major cities in the world.
Between now and 2026, the city announced, Paris will gain 180 kilometers (112 miles) of new permanent segregated bike lanes. As part of the city’s new Bike Plan, the number of bike parking spots will more than triple, with 180,000 more added to the current total of 60,000. The city will pay particular attention to bike lanes and infrastructure around the connection points between the neighboring suburbs and the city to create better integration across the wider metro area.
How to cycle to Iceland, part one: pedalling through Denmark | Denmark holidays | The Guardian
Kevin Rushby
It feels good to be under way. Planning a no-fly international trip by bike is a lot more difficult than it ought to be. Ferry routes have been slashed in recent years – the trip would be far simpler if any ferry between the UK and Scandinavia still existed. Not only that but taking bikes on international trains can be frustratingly tricky (regional services are far easier). Our transport systems are hopeless when it comes to doing right by the planet.
The @TowerHamletsNow website states the Antill Rd traffic filter was removed after feedback from residents. This FOI reveals there were 6 objections – Save Antill Road – Twitter
Save Antill Road @SaveAntillRoad
The @TowerHamletsNow website states the Antill Road traffic filter was removed after feedback from residents. This FOI reveals there were 6 objections. Zero objections from emergency services & zero from local businesses. By contrast, 713 residents signed a petition to keep it.
Save Antill Road @SaveAntillRoad
The @TowerHamletsNow
website states the Antill Road traffic filter was removed after feedback from residents. This FOI reveals there were 6 objections. Zero objections from emergency services & zero from local businesses. By contrast, 713 residents signed a petition to keep it.
Do you recognise these bikes that were recovered in Bushey? – herts.police.uk
Officers are looking to trace the owners of a number of bicycles that are suspected to have been stolen.
Forty-five bikes were seized in Bushey following an investigation into a theft of a bicycle that took place in Islington, London.
The victim was able to trace the location of his stolen bicycle thanks to a security tracking device that had been fitted to it, which showed the bicycle as being in Harriet Way, Bushey.
Officers were alerted and attended the property, where they discovered a further 44 bicycles inside a garage.
A 53 year old man from Bushey was arrested on suspicion of theft. He has since been released under investigation whilst enquiries continue.
Tower Hamlets: Lutfur Rahman’s bid to end traffic calming hits the buffers | Evening Standard
Ross Lydall
Campaigners have claimed an early victory in a battle to prevent a mayor from ripping out traffic-calming measures across an east London borough.
Lutfur Rahman had launched a consultation on his “reopening the roads” pledge in the summer after being re-elected mayor of Tower Hamlets in May.
It would have been one of the biggest reversals of the trend to favour “active travel” over motor vehicles in the capital.
Many residents feared this would “destroy four years of street improvements” in the London borough with the lowest car ownership and make walking and cycling more dangerous by reopening residential roads to through traffic.
The Amazon will reach tipping point if current trend of deforestation continues – news.mongabay.com
Alexandrapopescu
• A report by the Amazon Network of Georeferenced Socio-Environmental Information (RAISG) claims that 26% of Amazon forests have transformed irreversibly and show high levels of degradation.
Across the entire 847 million hectares of Amazonian territory, some 26% of its forests are showing evidence of deforestation and degradation — 20% have suffered irreversible loss and 6% are highly degraded. The tipping point for the Amazon is no longer a distant scenario, but a present reality in some parts of the region. Of the nine countries that make up the Amazon basin, Brazil and Bolivia have the largest amounts of destruction and, as a result, “savannization is already taking place in both countries.”
This is embarrassing! 60% of asphalt imported from Russia – archyde.com
This is embarrassing! 60% of asphalt imported from Russia
After Putin was sanctioned, the UK could not even repair the roads. (Illustration/Dazhi/Associated Press)
[周刊王CTWANT] The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents more than 350 councils in England and Wales, pointed out on 31 August that since about 60% of the bitumen in the European market comes from Russia, the Moscow authorities implemented bitumen exports after the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The embargo has caused the cost of road maintenance in the UK to continue to soar, with some sections of the road taking up to 10 years to repair successfully, in addition to an extra £12bn.
Cyclists report multiple muggings and thefts on London cycle route | road.cc
A warning has been painted on the entrance to a section of Cycleway 10 in south east London, following concerns over the path’s safety
Graffiti telling cyclists to beware of bike thieves has been daubed on the entrance to a section of a south east London cycle route following reports of robberies and muggings by “masked men” in recent months.
Multiple cyclists have contacted the Metropolitan Police, Lewisham Council and British Cycling after a local cycling Facebook group reported that masked, knife-wielding thieves were targeting solo bike riders at night on a quiet portion of Cycleway 10 (formerly known as Quietway 1) near The Den, Millwall Football Club’s stadium.
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