This is a trade facing website. Visit the ACT's consumer site thecyclingexperts.co.uk for information and advice on cycling and find your local independent cycle retailer.

Search News

Results: 1-10 of 900


25 Jun 2025

The E-Bike Positive campaign has seen major success in the first half of 2025, with its message reaching nearly 8 million people across the UK through high-profile media coverage and growing...

20 Jun 2025

The House of Commons Business and Trade Committee has asked the ACT, and its parent company Bira, to help them reach out to small business retailers across the country, for their quick input on...

20 Jun 2025

Activate Cycle Academy has reopened its Cytech training facility in Darlington, offering a full range of courses from Home Mechanic up to Cytech Technical Three.
 

18 Jun 2025

The Association of Cycle Traders believes the time has come for greater accountability throughout our supply chain, writes ACT Director Jonathan Harrison in an article published for BikeBiz.

16 Jun 2025

The ACT has welcomed the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking's report "Unregulated and Unsafe: The Threat of Illegal E-Bikes", which calls for urgent Government action to...

11 Jun 2025

A new academic study has found that overzealous pro-cycling campaigners on social media may be inadvertently damaging the case for better cycling infrastructure across the UK.

11 Jun 2025

Bira has welcomed the Welsh Government's consultation on business rate reforms for retail shops, whilst calling for significant improvements to ensure the proposals truly support high street...

10 Jun 2025

Bike thefts across England and Wales have continued their steady decline, according to new data released by cycle insurance specialist Bikmo.

9 Jun 2025

Retailers on Britain's high streets are being encouraged to put themselves forward for the first-ever Love Your High Street Awards, designed to celebrate the small businesses that bring...

9 Jun 2025

 To coincide with Bike Week (9-15 June) – the UK’s annual celebration of cycling – new research has revealed a clear shift amongst Gen Z and Millennials in their approach...

Back to news menu

Drop in cycling traffic due to government's "flawed" decision to slash active travel budget, it is claimed.

Posted on in Business News , Cycles News

New statistics showing a 5% fall in cycling from last year should be a “wake-up call for the government” and are due to the Government's "flawed" decision to slash the active travel budget, it has been claimed.

black and white picture of cycle

Cycling UK has called the latest findings "depressing” with the government lagging behind its target of doubling the number of cycling journeys by 2025.

The new figures were published by the Department for Transport (DfT). The decrease in cycling levels in England comes after the government decided to cut the active travel budget in March this year, described as a "backward move" by the Walking and Cycling Alliance at the time.

However, a recent inquiry by the National Audit Office into active travel in England confirmed Cycling UK’s claims that the government’s investment in active travel fell far short of what was needed to meet the 2025 walking and cycling targets – even before ministers made further cuts in March.

Duncan Dollimore, head of campaigns at Cycling UK said:  "These statistics should be wake up call for the government, which has already been told in crystal clear terms by the National Audit Office that it can’t meet its own targets without substantially increasing investment in active travel.

"Multiple government polices recognise the carbon reduction, public health, air pollution and economic benefits which flow from more people cycling and walking, particularly for short journeys. It’s therefore imperative that the government reflects on these figures, and urgently reverses the cuts in the Autumn Statement."

In July last year, the government announced that it will invest £3.78bn in active travel schemes until 2025 as part of its refreshed cycling and walking investment strategy.

Trudy Harrison, the minister formerly responsible for active travel, said that the increased funding was part of an "ambitious" strategy to ensure that half of all journeys in towns and cities will be walked or cycled by the end of the decade.

However, following the cuts, Cycling UK joined its partners in the Walking and Cycling Alliance and more than 146 other organisations, including Campaign for Better Transport and Asthma + Lung UK, to write to the prime minister highlighting the disproportionate level of cuts to funding for cycling and walking infrastructure.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also recently indicated a U-turn on his own government’s stated support for low traffic neighbourhoods, ironically one of the measures local authorities can implement to enable more people to walk and cycle safely, at a time when the government is slashing central funding because they are relatively cheap to introduce.

Back to news menu

Useful links

If you have any other queries please contact us.