Government 'wasted' hundreds of millions of pounds on bike lanes

Painted cycle lanes are a “gesture” that waste hundreds of millions of pounds and have no impact on making people on bikes feel any safer, according to the cycling commissioners of cities including London, Manchester and Sheffield.

In a letter sent to transport secretary Chris Grayling, the commissioners, who include Olympic gold medallist Chris Boardman and Paralympian Sarah Storey, whose remit is to promote cycling in their regions, say that these measures can also be counter-productive and lull riders into a false sense of security.

“As there are currently no national minimum safety standards for walking and cycling infrastructure,” the letter says, “these practices can and will continue wasting public money and failing to persuade people to change their travel habits.”

The letter asks that the Department for Transport standardises cycling infrastructure across the country - currently some cities have bike lines bordered by hard kerbs while others just rely on painted lanes.

The commissioners make five policy asks of Grayling: that the government commit to long-term devolved funding; that there is a political commitment to minimum quality levels; that the local retention of fixed penalty notices is enabled to fund road danger reduction measures; that the commissioners are allowed to innovate by keeping road traffic regulations under review; and that transport investment decisions should account for the true cost of car use to society.

Boardman, who arguably kicked off the current golden era of British track cycling when he won a gold in the individual pursuit at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, is hosting a summit on Monday of commissioners from across the country in Manchester to discuss cycling issues.

“It’s tragic that hundreds of millions of pounds of government money have been spent on sub-standard cycling and walking infrastructure,” Boardman said.

“If national government were to adopt these asks we’d be on a winning streak and could truly transform Britain’s towns and cities, not to mention massively improving air quality and health.

“We need to make decisions based on evidence and we’ve got evidence that this is the right thing to do for our society.

“It’s not a quick win, it’s a 10-20 year evolution, but we can’t afford not to do this and we simply cannot go on as we are. This is a no brainer,” he added.

A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: “We’re investing around £2 billion in cycling and walking over the course of this Parliament, and have tripled cycling and walking investment per head since 2010.

“We’re also working closely with local authorities on cycling and walking infrastructure plans, and will be issuing new guidance on cycling infrastructure design later this year”.