Treasury cuts cycling and TfL grants

Spending on cycling and funding for Transport for London has been cut as part of a £545m programme of asset sales and budget reductions at the DfT ordered by the chancellor, George Osborne.

The lion’s share – £345m – will be met by the Department selling its share in the King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership, which owns land north of King’s Cross station (LTT 6 Feb). 

The remainder comprises:  

• £124m of reduced contingency held by the Department

• £31m grant reduction to TfL 

• £23m recovered from expected underspend this year in the Cycling City Ambition Programme (the DfT awarded £114m over three years to eight cities last November) 

• £16m underspend in the Regional Air Connectivity Fund

• £5m underspend on the Station Commercial Projects Facility

• £1m underspend on the Sheffield tram-train project

On the Cycling City grant cut, a DfT spokesman told LTT: “The savings announced reflect the funding requested by the participating cities this year.”

Osborne announced £4.5bn of measures to cut public debt. Further cuts will be announced in next month’s Budget.

Put questions to MP Robert Goodwil about these cuts at Cycle City Active City