News from Jenny Jones: Mayor’s £80m cycling underspend

Abstract: The Mayor has underspent his cycling budget over 3 years by £80m based on information from the Mayor and TfL

The Mayor of London has underspent his cycling budget over the last three years by a total of £80m, according to figures prepared by Jenny Jones. Each time, the money has been rolled over and included within the cycling budget for the following year. 2011 was the third year of mayoral press releases claiming ‘record levels of investment in cycling’ and the third year when the Mayor delivered less than planned. This year’s cycling budget dropped by £22m from last year.

Jenny commented:

“I am concerned that the £22m drop in funding for cycling reflects the fact that the Mayor of London has run out of ideas. Having taken forward the plans for cycle hire and superhighways which I helped draw up under the previous Mayor, Boris is now struggling to come up with new plans to promote cycling, especially in outer London.”

“For all the talk of record investment, the money for cycle training, cycle parking and local cycle schemes remains fairly unchanged from the budget inherited by the Mayor in 2008. Indeed the cancellation for the London Cycle Network was a disaster for outer London cyclists who have struggled to find funds to take forward over 230 safer cycling schemes which they had worked on and agreed with local engineers. Even the Mayor’s funding for greenways has been halved, despite its obvious benefits for promoting a really enjoyable cycling experience. “

ENDS

Notes

The table was prepared from a combination of an answer to a question to the Mayor  on the Cycling budget (1) Question No: 1363 /2010 and answers received 25^th May to a series of internal questions from Jenny Jones to Transport for London.

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