Active travel to get ‘unprecedented levels of funding’ says Haigh

Louise Haigh: We want to make sure that the funding is delivered where it’s needed… rather than where they’ve got the best bid writers, and where they’ve been good at hoovering up resources

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has pledged that the Government will invest “unprecedented levels of funding” in cycling and walking, as part of a national integrated transport strategy.

In an interview with Laura Laker in The Guardian, Haigh said access to safe cycle routes was “essential” to tackling the country’s carbon footprint.

“We’re in a climate crisis,” she said. “We’re in a public health crisis; getting people walking and cycling and moving more are essential to solving both of those in the immediate term and in the long term.”

Although there was only one passing reference to active travel in Labour’s election manifesto, Haigh insisted that walking, cycling and wheeling would be “utterly essential to developing our national integrated transport strategy”. 

This strategy would include long-term funding settlements, saving money and improving the consistency of transport networks, said Haigh. There will be a particular focus on walking and cycling routes, including the National Cycle Network, run by the charity Sustrans. 

“We absolutely want to make sure that we invest at unprecedented levels,” Haigh told the Guardian. “We just want to make sure that the funding is delivered where it’s needed… rather than where they’ve got the best bid writers, and where they’ve been good at hoovering up resources.”

Laker also asked the Transport Secretary about the Government’s internal review of transport infrastructure projects. Asked about planned multi-billion flagship road projects, Haigh said: “We’re looking at all capital projects, and where that money should be best spent. In a world where there’s not much money, we want to make sure it’s spent… [to] get the best bang for our buck.” 

Haigh sits on the Government’s health mission delivery board, and stressed the link between active travel and public health. She told the Guardian there was a lot of evidence that encouraging people to walk and cycle would reduce the number of GP appointments by “hundreds of thousands, if not millions, a year”.