The ambitions of the Copenhagen Plan have not only been met, but we have even revised them upwards.
MPs investigate Strategic Road Investment in England – Transport Xtra
20 December 2022
An inquiry into the government’s current five-year plan for investing in major roads and motorways, has been launched by the House of Commons Transport Committee.
The inquiry comes after a National Audit Office report stated that the Department for Transport’s current Road Investment Strategy 2 (RIS2), which runs from 2020-25, will go billions over its original budget. The added costs are due to delays in carrying out work on various projects combined with inflationary pressures in…
‘No child will leave Year 6 unable to ride a bike,’ pledges Derby City Council – transportxtra.
Cycle Derby’s efforts were noted after an Ofsted inspection at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary school. Ofsted inspectors visited the school while a cycle training session was taking place. Cycle Derby’s Mark Smith told LTT: “In the past, some schools who had experienced the same, had asked the Cycle Derby team to revisit when things were a little calmer. Staff at St Jo’s had a different approach and lauded the cycling offer and its impact on their children’s education.”
In Ofsted’s ‘Good’ report for the school last week, inspectors noted that “all the pupils learn to ride and are rightly proud of their achievements”.
National Highways may have to reverse burial of Victorian railway bridge | Transport | The Guardian
Selby council says roads agency, accused of ‘cultural vandalism’, must apply for planning permission
Matthew Weaver
The government’s roads agency has been told it must reverse its burial of another Victorian railway bridge, or seek permission for it, as the extent of the agency’s “cultural vandalism” has emerged.
Selby district council has told National Highways (NH) it must apply for planning permission if it wants to retain hundreds of tonnes of aggregate and concrete the agency used to submerge the arch of a 175-year-old bridge over Rudgate Road near Newton Kyme, North Yorkshire.
DfT’s National Road Traffic projections stir up road building debate – Transport Xtra
The new National Road Traffic Projections 2022 – what were previously called Forecasts – are produced using the National Transport Model (NTM), incorporating economic and demographic data and evidence on travel behaviour and the factors influencing it. The new figures and their basis are certain to prompt considerable examination and challenge, given their role in underpinning a major continuing programme of road building.
How we blocked London’s highway to hell | Transport policy | The Guardian
I was delighted to see this story told, but a crucial part of it is missing (London’s lost mega-motorway: the eight-lane ring road that would have destroyed much of the city, 13 December). In the mid-1960s a small group of us, mainly transport economists, got together to fight the then policy of solving congestion in cities by building roads, because it was actually counterproductive. The more people take to their cars, the more public transport deteriorates, setting off a further switch to cars – a vicious circle already in evidence.
The problem was how to get politicians to take notice. We started by convincing Camden, Islington and two other large civic societies that they should oppose the scheme not by the usual nimby arguments, but by showing that the policy was bad for everyone. With their support, we approached all civic societies in London, and most joined together as the London Amenity and Transport Association to adopt this united approach. They in turn put pressure on local councils already desperately worried about the destruction of housing required for the plan.
Have Your Say Today – Bounds Green LTN – Commonplace
Tell us what you think about the measures the council has introduced to help make the Bounds Green neighbourhood safer, cleaner and quieter.
Help shape the future of the Bounds Green low traffic neighbourhood area by completing our survey and using the interactive map.
The consultation is open from Tuesday 20th December 2022 to Tuesday 31st January 2023.
In August 2022, we introduced our first Streets for People low traffic neighbourhood trial in Bounds Green because we want to reduce the overall volume of traffic in and around the area so that the whole community can benefit from cleaner air and safer streets. Evidence from schemes, not only in London but around the world, have shown this is possible.
UK government blocks release of CO2 figures behind transport plan | Travel and transport | The Guardian
The UK government is refusing to release the carbon emission figures behind its transport decarbonisation plan, which campaigners say could make proposed road schemes financially unviable.
The Department for Transport (DfT) is blocking academics from seeing the figures, which include data on how much car use would have to be reduced in order to reach net zero commitments.
Campaigners say meeting these legally binding targets will be possible only with a drastic reduction in motor traffic, which could make many new road projects financially unviable.
There are 32m cars on the UK’s roads, and they are growing both in number and size. Transport is the country’s largest emitting sector, and produced 24% of the total in 2020.
London’s lost mega-motorway: the eight-lane ring road that would have destroyed much of the city | London | The Guardian
Peter Walker
As Dom Hallas leads me towards his block of flats, he glances up at the exterior, an endless expanse of dull, brown bricks interrupted by a few tiny windows and a curious-looking zigzag design picked out in lighter stone. “It’s true,” Hallas admits, opening the heavy security door with an electronic fob. “When I tell people where I live, some do say: ‘Oh, I always thought that was Brixton prison.’”
It is an easy mistake to make. Southwyck House, only nine storeys high but almost 250 metres long, looms like a gigantic wall just outside the centre of Brixton. It is one of south London’s most obvious and, it has to be said, forbidding landmarks.
Known locally as the Barrier Block, the building looks that way for a reason. It is an almost accidental relic of an alternative history for London, one that would have made the city very different and, as most people would probably agree, significantly less appealing.
This slab of roadside frontage was designed to be not just social housing but also a vast acoustic shield, screening the neighbourhood from the deafening roar of an elevated, eight-lane urban motorway.
‘The M8 is damaging’ for city centre: councillor calls for rethink | Glasgow Times
30th December – Stewart Paterson
‘The M8 is damaging’ for city centre: councillor says it should be replaced (Image: Newsquest)
THE M8 slicing through the city centre is holding back regeneration in Glasgow and needs to be re-thought and possibly even replaced, according to a senior councillor.
There have been suggestions of a ‘cap’ over the section at Charing Cross but more ambitious longer-term plans are being considered.
The M8 has been a main artery through Glasgow city centre since the early 1970s.