Local targets are now to replace the National Cycling Strategy targets of 1996, which the government has decided it will not be able to meet.

The news has been greeted with dismay by the CTC, whose Director, Kevin Mayne, said“After eight years of patchy support for cycling, and having realised that it could not meet its own national targets, the Government may be using Local Authorities to sweep its commitment to cycling under the carpet.

“Local provision for cycling is currently a postcode lottery and it remains unclear how the new targets will work. We need assurances that they will match the national targets they replace and will be rigorously monitored, enforced and funded.”

The new targets and policies aren’t necessarily bad news, as we don’t know what they are yet, but it does seem that the government will be lowering the focus on cycling in moving targets to a local level, and monitoring at a local level might well obscure the national picture. How this change will affect the position of cycling in the National Transport Strategy remains to be seen.