The High Court has granted permission to campaigners challenging cuts to cycling and walking funding in England, with the judge citing a ‘real prospect of success’ in overturning an earlier ruling, in a decision considered pivotal to future long-term investment in active transport.
The Rt Hon. Lord Justice Lewison has said Transport Action Network (TAN) can now appeal on an earlier ruling that active travel funding cuts were legal, as any funding was only “intended”, rather than a firm commitment.
In 2015 Parliament passed the Infrastructure Act, which required the government specify the "financial resources to be made available by the Secretary of State (SoS)" for infrastructure projects, including cycling and walking for the first time. This was seen as the start of long-term guaranteed funding for active travel.
However, in 2023 active travel funding was cut by £200m, ending the stability of multi-year funding - a move TAN argues was unlawful.
> High Court judge dismisses legal challenge to government's cycling funding cuts
Chris Todd, director of Transport Action Network says the summer’s ruling, by downgrading funding commitments to “intended”, threatens “the target to increase walking and cycling to half of urban journeys by 2030”. TAN is now raising funds for this legal challenge.
Todd said: “Labour's announcements over the last week talk about hardwiring stability. So will they do this for active travel funding, surely key to achieving the party's health and opportunity missions?
“Unless TAN wins this appeal, the funding will be as unprotected as before. That means we won't see real change as councils won't be confident enough to build up staff and ambitions to deliver a step change in active travel.”
TAN says it urgently needs to raise funds by 12 November in order to pursue the case, and the Court of Appeal has given an extension to allow for their fundraising efforts, which any supporters can donate to. The exact size of the bill is unclear, but it will be in the tens of thousands of pounds - in addition to the £38,000 already raised for, and spent on, the initial hearing.
Todd added: “Transport Secretary Louise Haigh recently promised 'unprecedented funding' for walking and cycling. This is exactly the same phrase used by the Tories in 2022, before they cut funding for active travel months later.
“We keep on hearing the same promises, the same rhetoric, so without Labour delivering this time change won't happen. And with budgetary pressures the outlook is grim. Indeed official figures show cycling is actually declining.”
Active travel is increasingly seen as a way of tackling England’s growing health crisis, which was worsened by Covid and austerity. Tackling this crisis is a core priority of this government, and Louise Haigh, who sits on its health mission board, recognises the power of active transport to help prevent ill health.
One in six premature deaths is attributable to inactivity, and a recent report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that, if current trends continue, economic inactivity due to sickness could affect 4.3m people by the end of this Parliament, up from 2.8m people today. An estimated 900,000 extra ‘missing workers’ in 2023 cost £5bn in lost tax receipts in 2024 alone, while tackling the problem could save the NHS £18bn a year by the mid-2030s.
The Department of Transport declined to comment on any ongoing legal proceedings.