Laura Sharman 02 November 2020

Councils urged to keep active travel schemes to avoid 'traffic gridlock'

Councils have been forced to scrap emergency active travel schemes due to a small but vocal number of objections, Cycling UK has warned.

The charity said schemes such as pop-up bike lanes and low traffic neighbourhoods have been scrapped due to concerns they were causing congestion.

Duncan Dollimore, head of campaigns at Cycling UK, said: 'To be fair to the Government, they predicted congestion and gridlock could be a major problem if people returning to work after the Covid lockdown switched to using their cars.

'That’s why they announced £250m in emergency funding for councils to implement schemes to make it safer and easier for people to walk and cycle if they wanted to avoid public transport.

'Unfortunately, a vocal minority of people and MPs have taken exception to these schemes, blaming them as the sole cause of congestion.'

The charity highlights a number of transport experts that have warned Britain's could be heading for traffic gridlock once lockdown restrictions begin to lift.

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