Tory MPS want to rip up cycle lanes
TRANSPORT SECRETARY URGED TO RETHINK PLAN
NEW cycle lanes created in Hull during the first national lockdown should be ripped up, according to a group of Tory MPS.
Temporary pop-up cycle lanes have been installed in Freetown Way, Ferensway and Spring Bank after Hull City Council secured government funding aimed at encouraging more people to cycle instead of relying on cars.
New cycle lanes are also due to be installed along stretches of Beverley Road shortly, while vehicular access to Wright Street in the city centre has been restricted as part of the new measures.
Council leaders say the lanes will be reviewed after six months before a decision is made on whether to retain them as a permanent feature.
But 14 Conservative MPS have signed a letter to transport secretary Grant Shapps calling on him to scrap projects like the one in Hull.
They say scores of similar schemes introduced by councils across the country during lockdown have led to more traffic congestion and increased pollution because of slower-moving or stationary vehicles.
MP Craig Mackinlay, who chairs an all-party parliamentary group for fair fuel for motorists and hauliers, said: “This policy is indefensible, with our constituents up in arms at seeing high streets desolated, small businesses ruined and emergency services impeded.
“With only 4 per cent of road journeys by bicycle, the overemphasis on cycling initiatives and their influence on policy in counterproductive, both economically and politically.”
Howard Cox, founder of lobby group Fairfueluk, said: “Grant Shapps seems hypnotised by a small minority of ill-informed, politically driven, well-financed greens who pathologically hate the motorist.
“They are hell-bent on making cars, taxis, vans and trucks obsolescent.
“Shockingly, a Tory minister is grounding road transport decisions on emotion, not common sense or pragmatic data.
“Strangulation of our city roads by new vacant cycle lanes and road blockades is intensifying congestion, escalating pollution and risking lives by delaying emergency services.
“All this so that fit, well-off cyclists can enjoy their fair weather pastime at the expense of economic common sense.”
Meanwhile, data tracking road
journeys in Hull since the start of the latest lockdown show traffic volume in the city is down by around 20 per cent compared to the weeks leading up to the new restrictions coming into force on November 5.