NOT SO FAST
Funding threat to lefty councils that roll out anti-car schemes amid new crackdown
It follows a backlash over Sadiq Khan’s Ulez scheme and the ban on petrol car sales being pushed back by five years
LEFTY councils that force anti-car schemes on drivers face losing their funding in a new crackdown.
Town hall bosses must get support from residents for controversial schemes like Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and 20mph speed limits.
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The Department for Transport has published draft guidance set to come into force this summer.
Under powers from the Traffic Management Act, the Government could even take control of an authority’s roads deemed to be widely mismanaged.
It follows a backlash over eco-projects such as Sadiq Khan’s Ulez scheme across London.
And it is a victory for The Sun’s Give Us A Brake campaign calling for drivers to be protected from a rush to net zero before the country is ready.
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Ministers have also announced £50 million to upgrade traffic lights.
And consultations are being launched to stop councils using drivers as “cash cows” through traffic restrictions like yellow box junctions.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the legislation would be “raising the bar” on ensuring schemes work for people in those communities.
He added: “We’re on the side of drivers, and these latest measures show we’re getting on with delivering what we promised in our Plan for Drivers – making their lives better, fairer and cheaper, and helping people travel in the way that works best for them.”
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But Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh criticised it as “a blatant and desperate attempt to distract people from a Government that has run out of road”.
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