Episodes
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This time Ned and Laura go behind the walls of Pentonville Prison for this very special episode. Listeners may remember Stef Jones, founder of XO Bikes, who trains ex-offenders in cycle maintenance in south London to help them turn their lives around.
With UK prisons full to bursting, people like Stef, along with prison staff themselves, try to break the cycle of reoffending that sees an estimated 55% of those released going on to re-offend. That figure is halved if someone has a job to go to – but it’s not an easy journey. Pentonville Prison houses those on remand, often awaiting sentencing decisions or hearings. A rehabilitation programme is challenging in this transitory population, but the team behind XO Bikes, including ex-prison officer, Paul, have defied expectations and are working with people as they return to regular life, to try to give them a fresh start.
Ned and Laura meet a prisoner working towards a brighter future, and talk with the XO team about the power of bikes to give people a second chance in life. It’s an experience Ned and Laura won’t forget, and they hope you won’t either.
Find out more about XO Bikes here: https://xobikes.com/
By the way, if you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers!
We’re also on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think!
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Our last episode, an interview with Secretary of State for Transport, Louise Haigh MP, caused a bit of a storm and went viral. Laura's interview was picked up by a host of UK national media including BBC News, The Sun, GB News, The Times and more.
We discuss how the story happened, what it means for active travel - and why the wider media picked up on it so extensively. Helping us navigate this is Henry Zeffman, the BBC's Chief Political Correspondent and contributor to BBC Newscast.
By the way, if you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers!
We’re also on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think!
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Missing episodes?
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Louise Haigh MP, the Secretary of State for Transport, joins Laura Laker on Streets Ahead for an insightful discussion on the future of active travel in the UK. From her own cycling experiences to the role of walking and cycling in tackling public health and climate challenges, Haigh outlines her vision for a national integrated transport strategy that prioritises active travel and discusses "unprecedented funding", as well as her support for councils implementing Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. Ned, Adam and Laura discuss the interview and what it means for the direction of travel for cycling, walking and wheeling in the UK.
By the way, if you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers!
We’re also on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think!
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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In this episode Laura travels to Paris, to meet one of the campaigners behind a successful push to put cycling at the heart of the city's transport plans for the 2024 Olympics. Paris en Selle is one of a cohort of campaign groups who staged an 'Olympic relay' protest that inspired Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo to roll out cycleways linking every one of the city's 35 Games venues. This would mean visitors and staff could get to events in a healthy, sustainable way without overwhelming the existing transport network.
What followed, within two years, was the rollout of an impressive 34 miles of routes that met, campaigners say, 90% of the brief given to city officials. Even previously reluctant boroughs, they say, were persuaded to do their part. In addition, 20,000 new cycle parking spaces, many but not all temporary, were introduced. Some cycleways are shared bus lanes, but for the most part what's been built is dedicated cycle lanes.
We would like to thank Paris en Selle's Corentin Roudaut, who used his lunch break from his day job to give Streets Ahead listeners a tour of the rapid transformation over the last two years.
Find out more about Paris en Selle's advocacy work: https://parisenselle.fr. The campaign group even produced their own guide to help Games visitors get around during the Olympics https://parisenselle.fr/2024/07/17/cycle-around-paris-during-the-olympics/
Read Laura's CityLab piece about Paris' Olympic cycling transformation: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-24/paris-summer-olympics-2024-cycling-at-the-games-bike-lanes-parking-sharing
By the way, if you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers!
We’re also on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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This time we're talking with our guest about life across the Pond. If early US cities were inherently walkable, what on earth happened? Is an active travel revolution possible in such a car-centric nation? Why are there parking minimums in new developments? And what on Earth is Euclidian zoning?!
John Simmerman, of the Active Towns podcast and YouTube channel, joins Adam and Laura at the start of a two month European odyssey, to talk about his work promoting active lives in the US.
John spent the first 15 years of his career promoting healthy living among employees in the corporate world, before shifting his focus to the built environment and its impact on health. In the USA, roads and motor traffic dominate public space, and interstate freeways divide and segregate communities, often along racial and socioeconomic lines. John's videos and podcast promote the benefits of walkable, bikeable costs both in terms of health and beyond, to quality of life and community vibrancy.
Links:
You can find out more about Active Towns, and John's work, here: https://www.activetowns.org; and his YouTube channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/activetowns
Euclid, it turns out, is a US village where zoning powers were first established by a local government.
And Adam shared that Simpsons clip on Twitter a while back: https://twitter.com/i/status/1347530929816932353
By the way, if you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers!
We’re also on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.
Episode edited by Clare Mansell.
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Adam's left his job, Ned's won an award, Laura's touring the country, oh, and there's a general election in the UK. It's been quite a hectic few weeks at Streets Ahead.
By the way, if you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers!
We’re also on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.
Episode edited by Clare Mansell.
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Laura's got a book out and we're here to plug it, 1) because it's brilliant and 2) because it'd be awkward if we didn't.
Potholes and Pavements: A Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network is the story of the UK's fitful, sometimes painful transformation from a car-dependent nation of villages, towns and cities into a connected, bikeable network of communities.
It's out on 9th May at all good bookstores. Go and get a copy!
Buy: https://linktr.ee/lauralakerpotholesandpavements
For in-person events, head to laura-laker.com/book.
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By the way, if you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers!
We’re also on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.
Episode edited by Clare Mansell.
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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In a special emergency episode, Ned and Adam try to make sense of the Plan for Drivers announcement. What does it mean for active travel and public transport? Will it actually change anything? What are the politics behind the announcement?
You can read the Low Traffic Neighbourhood review here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/low-traffic-neighbourhood-review
In the episode, Adam mentioned there wasn't reference to air quality on boundary roads. The report actually said the view is mixed: "LTNs have succeeded in improving air quality on internal roads but this benefit has not always been shared with boundary locations which show a mix of minimal reductions, no reductions and some increases in emissions of air pollutants."
The fourth location for the LTN review was Wigan, in addition to London, Birmingham and York.
By the way, if you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers!
We’re also on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.
Episode edited by Clare Mansell.
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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From lost panniers, stolen bikes and a proposed HS2 cycleway - this is our podcast without portfolio (our favourite kind) where we chew the fat on active travel.
By the way, if you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers!
We’re also on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.
Episode edited by Clare Mansell.
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Okay, it's not strictly active travel - but it is walking, sort of. In this short bonus episode, Laura and Adam go Mudlarking on the Thame's foreshore and find Medieval pottery, clay tobacco pipes, a Boris bike and a traffic cone.
Thanks to Chris from the Thames Explorer Trust for being our guide.
There’s also some extra bonus content on our new Patreon. That’s right - if you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers!
We’re also on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.
Episode edited by Clare Mansell.
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Cycling is booming in London, and in cities around the world, as are cargo bikes. With prices ranging upwards of £2,000, theft is a real and present concern for owners, and a major barrier to more people experiencing the joy and convenience of owning a larger bike, whether for work, carrying children, or as a mobility aid.
In this episode Laura travels to north London for a celebration of possibly the UK's first on-street dedicated secure cargo bike parking, joining about 50 other cargo bike fans. She talks to wanna-be cargo bike parents, disabled cyclists and those behind the new cycle hangar, to discuss why cities need more of this kind of thing - and what happens when it's not there.
There’s also some extra bonus content on our new Patreon. That’s right - if you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers!
We’re also on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.
Episode edited by Clare Mansell.
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Welcome to this special episode, in which it’s just Laura, her suitcase and one amazing guest, sat on a bench in the middle of one of the city’s famous Superblocks.
There’s also some extra bonus content on our new Patreon. That’s right - if you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers!
In late 2023 Laura travelled to Barcelona by train from London. She was curious about the superblocks programme which involved some of the city’s streets being pedestrianised, leaving others as thoroughfares for motor traffic, and introducing things like greenspace and seating to the inner roads. Starting in 2022, streets in the Eixample district were transformed for walking and cycling, with a focus on cutting air pollution, overheating in summer and improving accessibility.
On those streets, people can still drive in and out, but through traffic is discouraged. While I was there I met Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, a researcher and professor in urban and transport planning, environment and health, and Director of the Urban Planning, Environment and Health Initiative, and Head of the Climate, Air Pollution, Nature and Urban Health at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health. Mark has quantified, in his research, the toll poor urban and transport planning has on the environment and health - and some of it is pretty scary. Mark was a delight to interview and I’m excited to share this episode with you.
You can find some of Mark Nieuwenhuijsen’s research here:
Street pedestrianization in urban districts: Economic impacts in Spanish cities https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S026427512100367X
Superblocks’ impact on health, local climate and economy https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019315223?via%3Dihub
PASTA research https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/1/e009924
Mark's current research can be found here https://ubdpolicy.eu/
About the current Superblocks https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/superilles/es/content/asi-seran-las-nuevas-plaza-y-ejes-verdes-eixample
We’re also on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.
This episode was edited by Clare Mansell
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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And we have reached the end of 2023! What a year that was: we had highs, we had lows, we had some culture wars, we did a podcast in a pub. How was 2023 for you? Ned, Laura and Adam give their perspective.
>> Oh, and we're on Patreon! If you'd like to support Streets Ahead, get ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes content AND receive wonderful stickers, please head to:
https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast
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For this episode, Ned, Adam and Laura navigated east London's cycle lanes and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods to speak in-person, in front of a live pub audience, to Councillor Clyde Loakes, at the Wanstead Tap in Waltham Forest.
For the past decade Cllr Loakes has led his borough's transformation for walking and cycling. Waltham Forest is very much no longer a forest, in North-East London, but has become world famous for its Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, people-friendly high streets and for pioneering high-quality cycle lanes and transforming massive car-dominated junctions in outer London for active travel.
During the podcast we talk about political courage, and what the borough has achieved since Clyde's team won an unprecedented £27m from Transport for London back in 2013 for its 'Mini Holland' programme. We discuss how ultimately this kind of transformation, while hard, is possible - even in the most car-centric of places. We discuss the role of a range of players, from campaigners on the outside, to the political and officer support within the council - and the importance of listening to genuine concerns from the public.
In a speech in 2018, Cllr Loakes said: ‘I spent years talking about encouraging a shift to bikes and walking without actually doing the things that make a difference. If I am honest - I was tinkering with parking schemes and pandering to car owners. I was not delivering for our community. Then I got a chance to do something extraordinary. We won our Better Waltham Forest mini-Holland bid with low traffic neighbourhoods and protected bike lanes . We had signed up to deliver a huge public health implementation at pace.’ He added: ‘For too long we, in fact I, as a councillor had been focused on maintaining a status quo that did nothing for anyone. But now we have done something extraordinary, a radical intervention that puts people first.’
Thank you to Dan at the Wanstead Tap, to everyone who turned out on a rainy Monday night in December, to join us live, and to Pedal Me who cycled our equipment across London.
The Healthy Streets Scorecard, which ranks London boroughs based on people-friendly measures, can be found here: https://www.healthystreetsscorecard.london/
*That* coffin picture is here: https://twitter.com/mthrel/status/1402221590167838722
Clyde Loakes is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Labourstone
We’re also on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.
Episode edited by Clare Mansell.
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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In the second of a two-part mini-series on online disinformation Laura, Ned and Adam talk to Shayoni Lynn, whose company specialises in the behavioural science of mis- and disinformation, and how to tackle it. After ministers admitted this autumn making decisions based on ‘online discussions’ that veered towards fringe conspiracy theories, around things like 15-minute cities, and as the climate conference COP28 approaches, our guest has some timely insight into the world of disinformation.
Shayoni Lynn is founder of Lynn Group, a ‘communications consultancy, powered by behavioural science’. They specialise in helping organisations avoid their work being the subject of disinformation, including those involved in vaccine rollout and mental health services. She authored an article on why sometimes, engaging with disinformation online is the last thing we should be doing, and explains to Streets Ahead other ways of ensuring measures to improve our health and reduce our impact on the environment, aren't foundered by falsehoods.
Lynn Global has worked with the Welsh government on the rollout of default 20mph speed limits in built-up areas, the biggest policy the Senedd has enacted so far, and one not without its share of disinformation. Shayoni Lynn explains how our very nature as humans make us susceptible to misinformation and what we can do about it as individuals, as organisations and as nations.
This blog discusses why sometimes, engaging with disinformation online is the last thing you want to do: https://lynn.global/the-dangers-of-debating-misinformation/
We’re on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.
Episode edited by Clare Mansell.
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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This time Ned, Laura and Adam meet Polly Herbert, a solicitor who represents the loved ones of those killed and seriously injured in road traffic collisions.
Working for the law firm Hugh James, Polly represented the family of Frankie Jules-Hough, a pregnant mother-of-two who was killed by a speeding driver who filmed himself driving in excess of 100mph, in May.
In 2022 judges were given the power to hand greater sentences to those convicted of causing death by dangerous driving. With the powers coming into effect in summer 2023, Frankie’s tragic death was widely seen as a test.
Despite Adil Iqbal’s driving being described by the judge as "the worst case of bad driving any of us can recall", Iqbal initially received a 12 year sentence. This was overturned at the court of appeal in October, as unduly lenient, following a campaign by the family, and extended to 15 years.
Ms Jules-Hough’s partner, Calvin Buckley, asked how bad driving would need to be to warrant the full sentence. Iqbal had been driving at 123mph, while filming himself undertaking and swerving along the M66 in Bury in May. Ms Jules-Hough had broken down and was waiting in the vehicle with her two children and a nephew when Iqbal lost control while undertaking a motorbike rider, and hit her at more than 90mph.
The news of Iqbal's sentencing, and the appeal, were covered nationally, including here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-67099209. Calvin Buckley continues to bravely speak up for a culture change among young people, to foster respect on the roads.
In September the All Party Parliamentary Walking and Cycling Group released a Road Justice Report, with ten recommendations, including an end to exceptional hardship, removal of tolerances in speeding cases that allow drivers to exceed the limit without penalty, treating road crash victims as victims of crime, and appointing a commissioner for road danger reduction. You can read the report here: https://allpartycycling.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/APPGCW-Road-Justice-Report-2023.pdf
We’re on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: http://www.twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.
Episode edited by Clare Mansell.
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Disinformation is seeping from social media into public debate, and even politicians are being sucked in - with real-world consequences for democracy. From 15-minute cities, to ULEZ, active travel has found itself on the frontline of the battle for truth - but what is actually happening, and how does it affect us?
In the first of a two-part miniseries on the topic, Adam, Ned and Laura talk to Amil Khan, founder of Valent, a company that “deals with disinformation by understanding who is behind it, what methods they use and who they seek to manipulate”.
Amil Khan was a Reuters and BBC journalist who first encountered disinformation campaigns around the Arab Spring in the 2010s. He began investigating the topic for Chatham House and the government and, in 2020, with a government COVID loan, he founded his own company, Valent. There, he and his team investigates the mechanics of disinformation, including on social media platforms.
Amil says the company is ‘content agnostic’ - but as well as paid projects it investigates topics of interest to staff… which led to an investigation into anti-ULEZ sentiment online. What it found was one of the most advanced manipulation efforts they have seen in nearly four years of examining such activity in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. An estimated £168,000 had been spent, via ‘spreader accounts’ amplifying genuine anti-ULEZ voices. While against social media company rules, this automated manipulation happens, thanks to a number of companies selling such services under vaguely concealed euphemisms.
Amil talks us through the mechanics of dis- and misinformation online, how it happens, how to tackle it, and the consequences for active travel, and indeed democracy.
We’re on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.
Episode edited by Clare Mansell.
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Safe Streets Now was born out of growing concerns over what campaigners have called an epidemic of speeding and red light jumping in Birmingham. Better Streets for Birmingham saw residents collect data on speeding and red light jumping in the city earlier this year, a citizen science project that attracted attention with the scale of the significant problem it revealed on the roads. Then, over the summer, a tragic string of hit and run collisions galvanised those concerns. Children were, tragically, among those killed, and residents across Birmingham have decided enough is enough. More voices have now joined the call for action nationwide, and on 30 September protests are planned in towns and cities across England to call for ‘Peace, Space and Justice’ on the roads. This co-ordinated outcry over the loss of children's freedoms and safety is, perhaps, the closest thing the UK has had to the Dutch 'Stop de Kindermoord' moment that pushed for a reversal of car dominance in the 1970s Netherlands. Could this be the start of an equally powerful movement here?
Joining Streets Ahead to discuss the issue is Mat MacDonald, who founded Better Streets for Birmingham earlier this year, and is also the coordinator of Safe Streets Now, and Sarah Chaundler, a video journalist who interviews fellow parents concerned about dangerous driving on Birmingham streets.
There are 15 actions in 13 towns and cities at the time of writing. To find out more about the protests, and to see if there's one near you, visit: https://safestreetsnow.co.uk/
We’re on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.
Episode edited by Clare Mansell.
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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This time Ned, Adam and Laura are talking about roads. Are they good, are they bad, and do we really need to take sides? In a week where the Prime Minister claimed there’s a ‘side’ where driving is concerned, we look to Wales, where they're taking perhaps a more balanced approach to transport.
Lee Waters is Wales’ Deputy Minister for Climate Change. He works in a department that brings together society's most polluting sectors and seeks to reduce their carbon emissions, not least for the sake of future generations.
In February 2023, following a Roads Review, the Welsh Senedd announced it wouldn’t be investing in new roads unless they contribute to a modal shift towards public transport and/or active travel. While this announcement was spun as a 'ban' on all new roads, it in fact simply raised the bar for roadbuilding. Lee Waters talks to Streets Ahead about the thinking behind the move, the challenges, and why giving people clean transport options - and genuine alternatives to driving - is not a party political issue.
You can read more about Wales' roads review, and the report on the future of Welsh roadbuilding, here: https://www.gov.wales/future-road-investment-wales. As the chair of the roads review panel, Lyn Sloman, put it: "The challenge of our time is to achieve a prosperous economy and a fairer society whilst protecting and enhancing the environment, for our own well-being and that of future generations."
We’re on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: http://www.twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.
Episode edited by Clare Mansell.
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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This time Laura and Adam are Ned-less because there is still a bicycle race happening over in France
All cyclists start somewhere - whether it’s wobbling along with stabilisers, or without. In the UK, because we often end up sharing the roads with motor traffic, many of us will also have received training from a professional at some point - under the Bikeability standard, or Cycling Proficiency as it was once known.
In recent years cycle instructors have increasingly voiced concerns over pay stagnation and working conditions and this summer London instructors are striking for the first time ever, after what they describe as a 14-year pay freeze. The freeze, they say, amounts to a 50% real-terms pay cut. Each week, on average, one cycling instructor quits - and numbers have halved since the pandemic. Nationwide we need 1000 more instructors to meet government targets to train every child to the Bikeability standard, but recruitment is proving tough.
With the most common reason for not cycling being 'fear of riding with traffic', cycle instructors are a pivotal part of the transition to green transport - we can't build all the safe cycle routes we need immediately, so confidence riding on the roads is key to helping people cycle for more journeys. It's also the kind of green job politicians say we need for the future.
Our two guests are instructors from the Independent Workers union of Great Britain (IWGB): Suami Rocha (Hosha), chair of the Cycling Instructors Branch of the IWGB, and Ben House, its co-secretary. With them Laura and Adam discuss what it's like to do a skilled job where people assume you're a volunteer, the complexities of the cause and what would help stem the tide of cycle instructor loss.
You can read more about the strike here: https://iwgb.org.uk/en/post/cycling-instructors-set-for-first-ever-strike-after-14-year-pay-freeze/
We’re on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: http://www.twitter.com/podstreetsahead
If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.
Episode edited by Clare Mansell
Support Streets Ahead on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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