Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason his Department has reduced the planned level of funding for active travel in the period to 2025; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing funding for road building measures as an alternative.

This Government has done more than any other in relation to the promotion of walking and cycling, and it remains fully committed to the vision that by 2030 half of all journeys in towns and cities are walked or cycled as well as to the objectives outlined in the second statutory Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.

Around £3 billion is projected to be invested in active travel up to 2025, despite the need for efficiency savings across Government. These were due to global financial pressures, triggered by the impact of Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine, as well as by supply chain disruption as the global economy recovers from the effects of Covid-19.

These factors are affecting all areas of transport spend. However, the Department is managing inflation within the existing budgets by deferring the construction and development of several major schemes, as set out in the Secretary of State’s statement to Parliament on 9^th March.