Cycling lobby seizes on DEFRA road closure call as Government accused of being "heavy-handed"

Proponents of cycling have seized on a call in a Government consultation for road closures and cycling schemes for the U.K to meet legal air quality limits as ministers were accused of being "heavy-handed".

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at the weekend unveiled a new air quality strategy which states that to reduce nitrogen dioxide pollution in major cities local authorities need to consider access restrictions for vehicles. There are over 1,000km of road in Greater London where such a step is required, it suggests, and hundreds more in Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Southampton and Derby.

Carlton Reid, executive director of Bike Biz, urged hundreds of delegates at the London Cycling Show to respond to the consultation and back DEFRA's approach. "To cut deaths from pollution, they are seeing a greater role for cycling than the DfT," he claimed.

Lord Drayton, former science minister, defending the Government against claims it was "heavy-handed," stressed to the Evening Standard in London that "it's not just about the policies Government makes, it's the contribution we can all make. Making the choices around how we travel... choosing to walk, to cycle to work, does make a difference".