The DfT say local authorities must ‘always’ leave cycling and walking schemes in place long enough to be properly assessed after it was revealed three councils face court action for removing cycle lanes.
Minister of State for Transport, Chris Heaton-Harris said that the government would shortly be issuing guidance to all local transport authorities ‘making it clear’ that school streets, low traffic neighbourhoods, and cycle lanes, should be given time to have an impact.
He said: “The Department will be issuing updated statutory Network Management Duty guidance to all local transport authorities shortly which will make clear that they should always leave cycling and walking schemes in place for long enough for their impacts to be properly assessed.”
The statement came as Cycling UK revealed that three councils are currently facing court action for removing cycle lanes and experimental traffic orders.

UK cultural landmarks such as Stonehenge could be stripped of their coveted world heritage status unless the government curbs “ill-advised development” and protects historic sites for future generations, a Unesco chief has warned.
Dr Mechtild Rössler, the director of Unesco’s World Heritage Centre, urged ministers to “do everything” they could to conserve the UK’s treasures after Liverpool became only the third place in nearly 50 years to lose its revered title.
Rössler said developers should be made more aware of the international value of places such as Stonehenge before proposing potentially harmful projects.
She said: “These are the most outstanding places we have on Earth. If we are not capable of protecting these, for me the question is what will be left on this planet?”
The intervention came before Thursday’s high court ruling that the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, had acted unlawfully in granting permission for a two-mile tunnel to be be built at Stonehenge.

Bikes are still flying off the shelves in the UK as the latest market data sales figures show 40% growth by value and 25% by volume, year on year, to the end of May 2021 – but increasing motor traffic and supply issues may be holding back further growth. 

For the first time sales figures offer a direct comparison with the bike boom of the UK’s first lockdown in 2020, with sales March-May 2021 up 7% by value and 25% by volume compared with the same period last year.

At one point last year, almost four times as many journeys as usual were being taken by bike, but usage has gone back to normal levels since then.

The charity Sustrans says cyclists need to feel safer and wants more 20mph zones and more effective cycle lanes.
The government said it had “ambitious plans to boost walking and cycling”.
It promised to set out more details soon.
According to official statistics, road journeys taken by cyclists surged during the first lockdown last year, reaching a high point of 3.84 times the normal level on 5 May.

Matthew Weaver
Unesco has confirmed that Stonehenge could be stripped of its world heritage site status, over its concern that a road tunnel, backed by the government, would irreversibly damage an area of “outstanding universal value”.
A report to Unesco’s world heritage committee setting out concerns about the £1.7bn A303 road tunnel was approved unchanged on Thursday. Unless the designs for the two-mile (3.3km) tunnel are extended and changed, the committee recommends placing Stonehenge on Unesco’s list of world heritage in danger next year.
Last month the high court was told that a decision by Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, to approve the tunnel last November was unlawful because it did not properly consider damage that would be done to a string of prehistoric sites and many thousands of ancient artefacts.

Donnachadh McCarthy 1 day ago
Shapps repeats the fairytale that we will be walking and cycling for almost half of all trips in our cities and towns by 2030. But there was not a penny in his plan to support this

‘It is crucial to remember that all emissions in 2021 demolish the idea of a zero carbon 2050’
Boris Johnson famously wrote two versions of his newspaper column on Brexit. One backed Remain and one backed Brexit. Only the Brexit version got published – the rest is history.