The transport secretary has pledged to back councils that implement low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and 20mph limits, with the new government ‘absolutely determined’ to end the Tories’ ‘culture wars’ approach to transport.
Louise Haigh (pictured) told the Streets Ahead podcast that a speech by her predecessor Mark Harper, which referenced 15-minute cities, had led to some council officers getting death threats.
She said: ‘Local authorities will have my full support to roll out schemes. It's really, really difficult for local authorities when they've not got that air cover from government.
‘And not only did they not have the air cover, they had the Government actively working against them saying “no, you're not allowed to roll out 20mph zones; no, you're not allowed to roll out LTNs”.
‘Those kinds of decisions should absolutely be made at a local level by communities and not dictated to or stoked up by the centre.’
She added: ‘It all has to be done with communities, absolutely, and the worst thing you can do is put the wrong schemes in because then it erodes that support and they can be unsafe in some circumstances. So that’s why the work of Active Travel England is so important.
‘It will need to be properly funded. We will look at that the through the Budget and the [Comprehensive Spending Review].’
Ms Haigh said there are currently too many funding streams that councils are being asked to bid for.
She added: ‘We're certainly not shying away from the target of getting 50% of short journeys walking and cycling and that will have to be delivered by local authorities, so anybody who wants to do that work, they'll have the Department for Transport's full backing.
‘There's no way me sitting in my office in the DfT can say “This road in Chester should be a 20mph road or not”; it's completely ridiculous, so if they want to do that then that's got my full backing.’
