PRESS RELEASE

Spending Review cuts active travel funding by 40%

In response to the transport announcements in the Chancellor’s Spending Review today [1], Transport Action Network’s Director, Chris Todd, said:

“Confirmation of funding for city region tram, bus and rail projects already announced and for rail projects such as the Transpennine upgrade and East West Railway are all welcome. However, the 40% cut in Active Travel England’s funding [2] shows why the Treasury needs reform. As active travel consistently gives some of the highest rates of return, and reduces inequality, protects the NHS, while improving health and well-being, it should be a no brainer. Instead we see money diverted into poorer value roads like the Lower Thames Crossing.

There was a lot not said in the spending review and we will need to await to see if the government is serious about decarbonisation and moving freight off roads and onto rail when it publishes its Infrastructure Strategy and draft roads plan (RIS3) next week. The £24bn for both strategic and local roads could be good news if invested in maintenance and making roads more resilient to extreme weather events. However, if it is wasted on low value road expansions it will prove extremely costly economically.”

Yesterday the Court of Appeal ruled that the previous government’s cuts to active travel funding were unlawful after a successful legal challenge brought by Transport Action Network (TAN) [3]. The new Labour government defended the previous government’s cuts, but lost the legal action.

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Notes for editors

[1] Spending Review 2025.

[2] The Spending Review at 4.58 says the government is “allocating £616 million for Active Travel England from 2026-27 to 2029-30 to support local authorities (LAs) to build and maintain walking and cycling infrastructure, and funding research into transport decarbonisation to unlock innovation and support technologies of the future”. Spread over a four year period, this averages at £154m per year. However, transport minister Simon Lightwood MP confirmed in a Written Answer to Olly Glover MP on 21 February 2025 that the “dedicated funding allocated for active travel in England is… £246.4 million in 2025/26”: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-02-21/32531. It is unclear what the £616m announced today covers.

[3] Transport Action Network took a judicial review of the previous government’s cuts to active travel funding, and won at the Court of Appeal in a decision handed down yesterday. See our press release: https://transportactionnetwork.org.uk/treasury-cuts-to-cycling-and-walking-budget-unlawful-rules-court-of-appeal/

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