Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance they have provided to local highways authorities about the retention of pop-up cycle lanes created during the COVID-19 pandemic; and whether the presumption is that such lanes should remain unless there are significant and unsurmountable problems with them.

The Active Travel Fund has made £225M available to local authorities in two tranches, to allow them to provide safer walking and cycling measures to support a green recovery in response to Covid-19. Alongside the funding, the Government published additional Network Management Duty guidance. This clearly sets out what the Government expects local authorities to do in making changes to their road layouts to encourage cycling and walking.

The guidance sets out that local authorities should monitor and evaluate any temporary measures they install, such as pop-up cycle lanes, with a view to making them permanent, and embedding a long-term shift to active travel as we move from restart to recovery. This may include adjusting temporary schemes in the light of feedback from stakeholders.