Have your say on our proposals to help reduce traffic overflowing on to residential roads in the Burnt Oak and Colindale area
As highlighted in our Transport Strategy(External link) we are committed to making Barnet roads safer for everyone living, working and visiting the borough. We aim to create an environment that will encourage more walking and cycling, improve air quality and reduce emissions in the borough.
As a former officer, I’m horrified by England and Wales’s Police Bill – opendemocracy.net
Richard Ecclestone
I have been on both sides of the protest fence. In the 1990s, I attended a series of anti-roads protests in Devon wearing a police uniform in my role as a police inspector. More recently, I have been taking part in Extinction Rebellion (XR) protests in London, Cornwall and Scotland wearing an XR badge and acting as police liaison for the movement.
As a result, I feel confident in saying that the impending Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill could spell the end of the already-battered belief of many people in England and Wales that those who police them are doing so with their consent.
Streets that put people first, not cars – apps.bostonglobe.com
The Boston Globe
Over the past year COVID-19 has forced dramatic changes in our communities, especially when it comes to outdoor public places. Gyms moved fitness classes into parks. Retailers found new opportunities for “sidewalk sales.” Restaurants claimed parking spaces and roadways for outdoor dining service. And in the process, we’ve sensed how much better our cities and local economies can be after the pandemic.
We hear less traffic on city streets and are exposed to lower levels of harmful pollutants. And we’ve gained an entirely new way of thinking about space in our cities and towns.
Instead of viewing streets as spaces to move vehicles quickly through, what if we reimagined these valuable slices of real estate as places to build community, to connect disconnected neighborhoods, to encourage healthier lifestyles, to improve our neighborhoods’ air quality, and to support local economies?
NHS worker scared of cycling around Sheffield – BBC News
She said: “I cycle to work every day and quite often, I feel absolutely terrified. I’m just scared that they might kill me.”Published17 hours agoSectionBBC News Sheffield & South Yorkshire
Minister who declared pandemic recovery “should not be car led” takes on active travel brief – Cycling Industry News
Mark Sutton 10 January, 2022Harrison has a background that appears to align her with active travel and subjects like sustainability and road safety. Recently she has sought assurances on new road safety measures in Cumbria and in the past few months has shared the opinion that “the post-pandemic recovery will not be car-led.”
Furthermore, Harrison has become an electric bike advocate having tried one for herself, reminding her social media followers that such bikes are now easily obtainable on the Cycle to Work scheme.
“We are choosing a transport system fit for the future – a future of world class public transport infrastructure, green travel, accessible to all and the ability to choose from a range of shared, clean green forms of travel,” she reportedly told the recent Smart Transport Conference.
The Minister has reiterated the Government goal to see “half of all journeys by 2030, especially in towns and cities, to be active travel, so walking, cycles or scooters.”
April 2020) Toxic air over London falls by 50% at busiest traffic spots | Air pollution | The Guardian
Matthew Taylor
London has had dramatic improvements in its air quality since the coronavirus lockdown, with dangerous emissions at some of the capital’s busiest roads and junctions falling by almost 50%.
Figures released by the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, show that anti-pollution measures introduced from 2017 had already led to a 35% drop across the capital of the harmful gas nitrogen dioxide, NO2 – rising to a 44% reduction inside central London’s ultra-low emissions zone (ULEZ).
In the last four weeks of lockdown there have been further big reductions, with NO2 falling by a further 27% across London, and by almost half at some of the worst pollution hotspots.
UK railways are heading into a perfect storm. Now is the time to nationalise them | Christian Wolmar | The Guardian
“So, Mum/Dad, what are the railways for?” That is the question the UK rail industry will be dreading hearing in a post-pandemic world.
This is not quite the existential crisis rail faced in the aftermath of the extensive Beeching cuts to the network in the mid-1960s, but that’s cold comfort. There is a considerable risk that services are going to deteriorate massively in 2022, sending the sector into the kind of downward spiral that was last experienced in the 1970s and 1980s.
Cycling To Work Is Status-Enhancing But Increases Social Inequality, Finds German Study – forbes.com
Carlton Reid Jan 12, 2022
Those who use bicycles for daily transportation are more likely to be college-educated than other city dwellers, finds a newly published study in the Journal of Transport Geography.
Those who use bicycles for daily transportation are more likely to be college-educated than other city dwellers, finds a newly published study in the Journal of Transport Geography.
Global SUV sales set another record in 2021, setting back efforts to reduce emissions – Analysis – IEA
Laura Cozzi, Chief Energy Modeler Apostolos Petropoulos, Energy Modeler Commentary — 21 December 2021
Global SUV sales set another record in 2021, setting back efforts to reduce emissions
Cite commentary
IEA (2021), Global SUV sales set another record in 2021, setting back efforts to reduce emissions, IEA, Paris https://www.iea.org/commentaries/global-suv-sales-set-another-record-in-2021-setting-back-efforts-to-reduce-emissions
As the global economy has recovered strongly this year, car sales have rebounded too. Globally, they are set to grow by 4% in 2021, according to the auto industry tracker MarkLines, reaching close to 80 million and making up part of the huge drop they experienced in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, electric car sales have continued to show their resilience to volatility in the wider car market. In a few key car markets – such as Germany (above 34%), the United Kingdom (28%), France (over 23%) and China (18%) – the market share of electric cars reached record levels as of late November1.
Tell motorists to help tackle London’s toxic air peaks, authorities urged | Air pollution | The Guardian
Tell motorists to help tackle London’s toxic air peaks, authorities urged
Advise people not to drive or light wood burners rather than imposing restrictions on vulnerable, campaigners say
Matthew Taylor
Campaigners have called on the government to urge people not to drive or light wood-burning stoves during toxic air peaks rather than telling the vulnerable not to exercise or go outside.
London suffered its worst air pollution since 2018 on Friday, when experts predicted it would reach “band 10”, the highest level on the scale.