Walking, Wheeling and Cycling Paths

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Monday 1st December 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

Local highway authorities are responsible for public rights of way and are required to keep a rights of way improvement plan. Where opportunities exist to bring historical routes into use for walking, wheeling or cycling, local authorities must decide how to integrate them into their active travel networks. The Government have announced their intention to remove the 2031 cut-off date for recording unregistered historic rights of way so that routes can continue to be identified, protected and enjoyed. I think the noble Baroness will know that, in respect of new railway lines and particularly HS2, there are plans to use the line of route for walking and cycling paths.

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

My Lords, in Holland, 55% of cyclists are women. In this country it is less than half that, at 25%, so what are the Government doing to encourage more women to enjoy the benefits of cycling?

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

I hesitate to speak in front of such a well-known cyclist as the noble Lord. The answer to that question is to make cycling both more convenient and safer. There are a whole range of measures, including those set out in my two previous responses, to make cycling a more general feature. Of course, safety is a particular issue, which is why investment is needed in making dedicated cycle paths and in cycling on the highways, which are both important. There are a whole range of measures, many of which will no doubt come up in the next eight minutes, about safety, the Highway Code and all those things, in order to get a much better gender balance in cycling, which the noble Lord is absolutely right to raise.