Exclusive: scientists write to ministers and supreme court over recent ruling in Heathrow case
Prominent scientists and lawyers have said the UK government’s decision to ignore the Paris climate agreement when deciding on major infrastructure projects undermines its presidency of UN climate talks this year.
The experts – including the former Nasa scientist Jim Hansen, the former UK government chief scientist Sir David King and the economist Prof Jeffrey Sachs – have written to ministers and the supreme court about a recent ruling that the government need not take the UK’s obligations under the treaty into account when setting policy, made in a case concerning the proposed expansion of Heathrow airport.
Green campaigners took the government to court in 2019 over its decision to allow the expansion of Heathrow, arguing that the increase in air travel it would enable was incompatible with the UK’s obligations under the Paris agreement to try to hold global heating to well below 2ºC above pre-industrial levels.
Fire crews delayed by careless parking in Swanage town centre | Bournemouth Echo
August 2017) Help rescue 100s of miles of 1930s-era protected cycleways | Bike Boom
August 17, 2017 carltonreid
Between 1934 and 1940 Britain’s Ministry of Transport paid local authorities to install cycle tracks. As seen and heard on the BBC, more than 100 or so schemes were built, resulting in perhaps as many as 500 miles of cycle tracks, some of them protected with curbs. The great majority were built – 9-ft wide and both sides of the roads – next to the new bypasses of the era; a few were built on “trunk roads” through residential areas, such as in Sunderland, Manchester, Nottingham and Oxford. A successful Kickstarter campaign in May 2017 enabled us to start researching some of these cycleways, and now in 2021, thanks to support from the Department for Transport and Sustrans, we’re in the process of rescuing some of them.
Shared use and covert cycleways: how cycling on footpaths came to be officially recommended – War On The Motorist
Joe Dunkley March 28, 2021
A misunderstanding in the ’00s led cycling organisations to recommend against separating
For anyone who has been missing getting together for Infrastructure Safaris lately,
I won’t try to replicate the video exactly in written form, partly because the point of an
Dec 20) Scottish Government Plans 20% Cut In Car Use Within Ten Years—And That Includes Electric Cars – Forbes
Carlton Reid 17/12/20
Many countries aim to phase out petrol and diesel cars, relying instead
on uptake of electric cars, but Scotland plans to reduce motoring in general.
Using both carrot and stick, the Scottish government plans to cut car use by
20% within ten years.
“We are not aware of any other country that has committed to such an
ambitious transformation,” writes Scotland’s Environment Secretary
Roseanna Cunningham in an updated climate change plan.
The plan, released December 16, was re-written after Members of
Feb 21) Boris Johnson urges councils to “crack on” with cycle lanes and low traffic neighbourhoods | road.cc
Simon MacMichael 03/02/21
Prime Minister says government’s research highlights majority support for active travel initiatives
Prime Minister Boris Johnson says councils should “crack on” with building cycle lanes and low-traffic neighbourhoods, and that the majority of local residents support such initiatives in areas where they have been put in place.
In May, Mr Johnson promised “a new golden age for cycling” and transport secretary Grant Shapps subsequently announced £225 million in emergency active travel funding for local authorities in England to make it easier and safer for people to get around on foot or bike during the pandemic.
Some schemes have been removed by councils following small but vocal opposition, however the Prime Minister – who was said to have gone “ballistic” when the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea removed pop-up cycle lanes on either side of Kensington High Street in early December – says that research carried out on behalf of the government demonstrates widespread support, reports The Times.
March 26/19) EU to require speed limiters, driver monitors in new cars from 2022 – cnet.com
Speed limiters are promised to reduce road deaths by 20 percent.
Jake Holmes 26/3/19
New cars sold in Europe after May 2022 will be required to have a variety of new safety technologies, including speed limiters and systems to monitor the driver’s attention levels. The European Commission announced the rules Tuesday, saying that intelligent speed limiters alone could reduce fatalities on European roads by 20 percent.
The speed-limit systems would use road-sign recognition or data from navigation maps to warn the driver of the current speed limit and whether he or she is exceeding it. Such technology is actually offered on many new vehicles already, but the EU plan is to make it standard on every car.
Other technologies that would be required include systems to determine whether a driver is distracted or drowsy, automatic emergency braking, lane-keep assist, backup cameras and an improved event data recorder to store information from before a crash. The rules still need to be formally approved by the EU Parliament later this year, the Commission said.
Nov ’20) The Paramedic Case for Safer Streets – College of Paramedics
By Jules Mattsson, Student Paramedic And Committee Member Of The London Cycling Campaign In Hackney
27/11/2020
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues, one big change for residents of towns and cities has been how we get around. With public transport capacity reduced, many took to private cars to avoid the guy wearing a mask under his chin while sitting opposite you on the train. Unfortunately, if this trend had continued we were heading towards long-term gridlock – so urgent action was needed to enable alternatives like walking and cycling.
Lockdown walking habit could outlast the pandemic, survey suggests – TransportXtra
Coronavirus regulations may have a lasting impact on the population’s behaviour even after restrictions are lifted, according to a study to mark 12 months since the first national lockdown came into force in the UK.
Walking, working from home and shopping locally are among lockdown behaviours that people will maintain after pandemic restrictions are lifted, according to the survey, which was commissioned by the BBC.
The research, by the Policy Institute at King’s College London and Ipsos MORI, is part of a wider study with BBC News to mark the first anniversary of the announcement of a national lockdown by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 23 March 2020.
Ipsos MORI interviewed 2,442 people aged 16 and over about how the pandemic may change their lifestyles in the long term.
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