Lives lost due to lack of rural cycle paths, MP says

There will be "devastating consequences" if more is not done to improve cycling infrastructure in rural areas, an Oxfordshire MP has warned.

Freddie van Mierlo, the Liberal Democrat MP for Henley, secured a Westminster Hall debate to highlight the issue.

He called for the government to "commit to invest in safe off-road cycling routes and segregated cycle lanes in rural areas".

A minister responded by saying the government was "determined to ensure that active travel can address the needs of people in both urban and rural communities".

Mr van Mierlo highlighted the extra dangers cyclists face on country roads.

"While much more needs to be done in cities and towns, rural areas risk being left behind and the consequences are paid in lives lost and lives ruined," he said.

"The mortality rates on rural roads are 2.7 times per mile cycled than on urban roads.

"If the government continues to ignore rural areas in policy development it could have devastating consequences."

He also said schemes such as a path between Chinnor and Watlington, via Lewknor, would "transform the lives of thousands of people".

"[Oxfordshire County Council] has already developed a strategic active travel network that draws lines on the map of prioritised cycle routes that would connect towns and villages to each other and to Oxford and cities of the surrounding counties," he said.

"Yet for now they remain just lines on a map, unfunded".

Simon Lightwood MP, who is a minister in the Department for Transport, said that the new Labour government had announced an additional £100m for active travel infrastructure, which had "reversed the previous government's funding reduction".

He said: "Active travel England will announce further details in the very near future of the government's investment plans for this year and next and I am confident that some of this investment will allow the delivery of high quality active travel infrastructure in rural places."

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