News from Elsewhere

News from Elsewhere

Wandsworth Council suspend LTN trials – road.cc

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11-9-2
The council in the London Borough has faced a backlash from some locals, and it looks like they’ve bowed to pressure. 
Councillor John Locker said: “We have monitored the traffic flows and listened to feedback from residents and businesses. We have also spoken to our partners including local hospitals and key services to hear the impact on them.
“It is clear that the LTNs are not delivering the benefits we want to see. In fact it looks like the combination of changes in areas like Tooting, where TfL are making changes to the main high road, are unfortunately having the opposite effect. That is why we have taken the difficult decision to pause and re-think about how we can achieve our objective of delivering healthier, safer streets.”
He added: “We all want to do what is right environmentally, whilst maintaining people’s ability to travel and making sure town centres and high streets function properly. It’s important that we listen to what people are saying so that we get this right.”

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Electric bike and scooter sales boom spurs Halfords back to growth | The Guardian

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Sales more than triple on e-bikes and scooters as commuters avoid public transport

Zoe WoodTue 8 Sep 2020 17.51
Sales of electric bikes and scooters have more than tripled over the summer months, according to Halfords as the health crisis has prompted people to steer clear of public transport.
While many retailers are struggling due to the economic upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the car and bicycle parts company is enjoying a purple patch as shoppers invest in new wheels as well as sprucing up old bikes left languishing in sheds and garages.

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Sadiq Khan faces calls from Labour to scrap Silvertown road tunnel | The Guardian

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Shadow minister says £1.2bn project should be ditched in favour of green transport links

Matthew TaylorMon 7 Sep 2020 07.00 BST

The shadow minister for climate change has called on the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to abandon his plans for a new four-lane road tunnel under the Thames.
Matthew Pennycook, who is also a local MP, said there was still time for the Labour mayor to reverse the plans for the £1.2bn Silvertown tunnel project, which is opposed by environmentalists, climate scientists and many local residents.

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Strategic planning must focus more on secondary school trips

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Local Transport Today is the authoritative, independent journal for transport decision makers. Analysis, Comment & News on Transport Policy, Planning, Finance and Delivery since 1989.School Streets are a welcome development, but they focus mostly on primary schools. Measures are urgently needed to make it safe for secondary school students to cycle to school, writes Lucy Marstrand, walking and cycling lead at Project Centre

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Air pollution causes 3m lost working days per year in UK, says CBI | The Guardian

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Analysis finds work absences related to poor air are costing Britain about £600m annually

Fiona HarveyWed 9 Sep 2020 00.01 BST
Polluted air in the UK causes 3m working days to be lost every year owing to people getting sick or taking time off to care for sick children, new research suggests.
Cutting air pollution and meeting the World Health Organization standards would benefit the economy by about £1.6bn a year, by improving productivity, according to the analysis carried out by the CBI. About 17,000 premature deaths of working age people each
year would be prevented by meeting the guidelines.

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We are proposing active travel improvements for towpaths | Canal & River Trust

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We have approached the Government with 30 towpath improvement schemes for inner city and urban areas, as the Government signalled plans for a walking and cycling ‘revolution’

The proposed improvements include places such as Burnley, Wigan, Sheffield, Bradford, Birmingham, Leicester and London. We are seeking to secure a combination of government and local authority funding for the schemes.

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Man fined £563 for cycling through car parks | road.cc

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Sep 11, 2020
A cyclist found guilty of breaching Hemel Hempstead’s town centre Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) has been fined a total of £563 for cycling through two car parks. 
Councillor Julie Banks commented: “This prosecution sends a clear message that breaching the town centre PSPO will not be tolerated and that enforcement action will be taken where necessary.”

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Electric bike owners progressively use cars less, finds study – Cycle Industry News

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Mark Sutton3 September, 2020

A new study on the behavioural habits of new electric bike riders has concluded that increasingly they leave the car at home as time goes on.

The finding is attributed in part to people discovering that a motor-driven tailwind will take them further than they perhaps previously could have gone by bicycle. In fact, the researchers discovered that electric bike riders were averaging 340% longer journeys in a day, but also seemingly taking more journeys.

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Berlin reports rise in fatalities as new bike lanes fail to keep cyclists safe | The Guardian

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Campaigners demand more rules for lorries after initial hope pandemic would mean less traffic

Philip OltermannMon 24 Aug 2020 14.45 BST
A coronavirus-related drop in traffic and new protected bike lanes have failed to make Berlin’s roads safer for cyclists, as the German capital reports a four-year record in fatalities.
A woman run over by a right-turning articulated lorry in the district of Reinickendorf on Friday became Berlin’s 14th official cycling fatality of 2020 – more than twice as many as the six recorded in 2019.
The prospect of less congested roads due to more people working from home had initially spurred hopes that the global pandemic could permanently change the infrastructure of cities – and make them more friendly for those commuting by bike.

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