June 2024
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CCWEL: work begins after an arduous evolution

Work has at last begun on CCWEL, the long-awaited City Centre West-East Link cycleroute, a largely protected route from Roseburn in the west, through the city centre (George Street) and onwards to Leith Walk. It will also link to the residential and university area of inner South Edinburgh via the George Street to Meadows […]

Hopes & Challenges for 2022

Stop Press 13.1.22: Traffic Reduction ‘Route Map’ published. Much as we predicted (2 & 2.2 below) – some good stuff, but without tougher Demand Management, notably Road User Charging, the 2030 traffic reduction commitment is very unlikely to be met. Consultation opens, closing 6 April 2022.

What can we expect in Edinburgh and […]

Scottish Budget 22/23

The budget brings a welcome rise in active travel [AT] funding, up by £34.5m from 3.5% of the total transport budget to 4.3% … but it’s less than we expected given the SNP/Green promise of 10% by 24/25.

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Cycling Champion Awards 2021 – Edinburgh

Two of the four 2021 ‘Cycling Champion’ Scotland awards have gone to people based in Edinburgh. Dave du Feu of Spokes has been awarded Visionary Champion of the Year, and Farrout Deliveries Business Champion of the Year.

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Scot Gov Active Travel: facing up to COP26

In recognition of COP26, we ask what is the best thing we’ve seen recently for active travel (AT) from the Scottish Government – and what is the biggest challenge they face in the coming year? We have no doubts about the answers!

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“A World that can be Different” – #SpokesMtg report

Summarising our public meeting on Local Bike Campaigning, QA presenter Alix Davies said it had given us “an insight into a world that can be different” and it had shown that, to make this happen, “your voice does matter.”

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Programme for Government 21/22 – making it happen!

The Programme for Government (PfG) largely confirms what we already know from the SNP/Green agreement and previous announcements, rather than anything new. The PfG policies do have potential for greatly increased active travel – but only if actions live up to policies, if serious obstacles are overcome and if contradictions are resolved.

More generally, […]

#SpokesMtg – Local Bike Campaigning

There’s a flourishing of locally-based campaigns for cycling infrastructure and for wider car-reduced living, supporting walking, wheeling, local public transport and places no longer dominated by the demands of the car.

Our meeting, at 7.30pm on Wednesday 22 September, hears from a range of local campaigns, together with city-wide groups BEST and Spokes, and […]

Active Travel: Scotland / England

How do the recent major announcements by the UK government on active travel (AT) policy in England compare with Scotland?

Our conclusion: Scotland is still best for AT funding, but the Scottish Government needs to catch up when it comes to enabling and incentivising all councils to make the best use of it.

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Growing Edinburgh’s Cycle Network beyond Spaces for People

[Latest, June 24: Council votes to convert most SfP schemes from ‘temporary’ Traffic Orders (TTRO) to ‘experimental’ (ETRO), as a step to becoming permanent if successful. Sadly, town centre schemes largely excluded]

Until 2019 Edinburgh cycle projects were often isolated schemes, taking advantage of local opportunities or needs, but not joined up. And, many […]