In 2015, Yvette Caster wrote a Metro article declaiming cyclists as a menace, and cycling as something that shouldn’t be taking place on the roads, which she saw as the domain of drivers. By 2023, however, she had changed her position entirely, given up her car and written for The Guardian about how it happened. 

She said: “When I wrote the piece, nowhere I had ever lived, which included cities across the country, seemed suited to cycling, and I, like my friends, viewed cyclists as eccentrics.” 

Lockdown changed that view - when the rural roads where she lives were suddenly free of traffic and she realised she could walk to the shops instead of driving. 

She’s not alone: according to the National Travel Survey, 22% of English households do not have access to a car. That figure is similar in Wales, but higher in Scotland at 27%. 

Yvette's 2015 Metro piece: https://metro.co.uk/2015/11/05/cyclists-are-a-menace-and-should-be-banned-from-the-roads-5482050/

Yvette's 2023 piece in the Guardian, following her road to Damascus moment: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/27/why-i-quit-complaining-about-cyclists-men-in-lycra

Yvette's podcast, Late in the Gay: https://castro.fm/podcast/d7d126ce-fe48-4dff-b62a-d4b7782fde6c

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Laura takes another road trip - this time literally - to Brighton, to look at an infamous cycle route alongside a dual carriageway.

Laura’s guide, Chris Todd, formerly of campaigning organisation, Transport Action Network, wants improvements to a dangerous four-mile stretch of shared use pavement along the A27 in East Sussex.

While a hardy few use the path, which is part of National Cycle Network route 90, it's a gap in an otherwise safe network connecting Brighton and its universities with the South Downs National Park, and nearby villages.

The road is owned by the trunk roads body, National Highways, and Todd feels they aren’t doing enough to protect path users. National Highways recently resurfaced the path where it crosses a slip road, where a new Greggs bakery is being built. Todd says to protect workers on the path, one lane of the road was closed, the speed limit was reduced, and a metal barrier installed, and yet path users get no protection at all - just a narrow strip of grass. 

National Highways says safety is its top priority and points to its work on a different part of the A27, where they built an excellent 10km route to the east of Lewes, set back from the road. However, the terrifying section remains.

National Highways added they continue to work closely with partners including Sussex Police to monitor safety on the route. There is £27bn for the current five year Road Investment Strategy, £55m for active travel. The Walk Wheel Cycle Trust says there are no plans to upgrade this route.

Links: Cyclists urge upgrades to 'dangerous' A27 cycle path: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c142ygpj3ryo

Laura's Substack post on the A27 route: https://open.substack.com/pub/lauralaker/p/your-life-in-their-hands-on-the-other

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In this episode Laura visits Cardiff to see what the Welsh capital city is doing for cycling and making the city greener and more resilient in the face of extreme weather. In 2015 Greener Grangetown was completed a city centre project to improve water management and reduce huge volumes of water being transported to water processing plants, and to improve flood resilience. 12 Victorian streets were transformed, and the UK's first cycle street was built, with more than 100 trees planted, safer junctions and improved pavements.

In 2019, the Senedd, the devolved government of Wales, enacted legislation to mandate flood management measures on any construction that impacts an area of 100m2 or more. This means developers have to include natural water management measures, like SuDS - sustainable drainage systems - which are highly technical planted areas, which sit alongside roads, cycle routes and pavements. Since then, it is understood that thousands of housing developments have been impacted. The result in Cardiff is an increasingly green city - but it all takes money and time to implement, and progress on Cardiff's cycle network is not as fast as campaigners would like.

Laura talks to, in order

Simon Dooley, Team Leader - Flood and Coastal Risk Management at Cardiff Council.

Cllr Dan De'Ath, Cardiff Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Strategic Planning & Transport,

Daffydd Trystan, newly-elected Cabinet Minister for Government Effectiveness and the Constitution and Member of the Senedd (MS)

Hamish Belding, of FRideDays Bike Bus project coordinator

Links:

Wales' sustainable drainage legislation, which came into effect in 2019, and how Welsh councils can apply them.

And English standards, which aren't mandatory

About Cardiff's Dock Feeder Canal project

Castle Street in the city centre is Cardiff's latest cycleway with rain gardens.

Greener Grangetown was 108 rain gardens removing 40,000m3 volume of surface water from the combined sewer system.

Wood Street by the Principality Stadium is 16 rain gardens, 15 tree pits - removing 6,800 m2 of impermeable area from the combined sewer.

The Existing and future network of cycle routes in Cardiff is shown in the Active Travel Network Map which can be viewed on DataMapWales by following this link - Active Travel Network Maps | DataMapWales. The ATNM is currently being updated, and a new version will be submitted to Welsh Ministers in December 2026 and will then be republished via the link.

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The recent local elections have created a national battle for power within the ruling Labour Party. After suffering substantial losses to Reform UK and the Green Party, even traditionally safe Labour councils have changed hands or been thrown into “no overall control”. Across the country, Reform UK gained 1,452 seats, the Greens gained 441, while Labour lost 1,498 seats.

In this episode of Streets Ahead, Laura and Adam focus on the local fallout of those elections; this is the type of politics closest to local people, and it’s also the structure used to deliver sustainable and active travel schemes.

Joining Laura and Adam are two guests with a deep understanding of local politics:

Cllr John Morris, a Labour Councillor in Newham - Labour lost control of the Council and saw a surge in Independent candidates taking seats, leaving Newham in no overall control - but with a pro-car Labour mayor, Forhad Hussain. John was Deputy Cabinet Member for Highways and Sustainable Transport under the previous administration.

Martin Price, outgoing Chair of Better Streets for Birmingham, a campaign group focused on safer streets and active travel. Birmingham is another one of those councils thrown into No Overall Control - and in the wider West Midlands, there is now an existing Labour Metro Mayor, 2x Reform Councils, 1x Labour Council and 4x No Overall Control.

Links:

John Morris' blog, on No Such Thing As A Safe Seat https://plaistovian.substack.com/p/there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-safe

On Birmingham's plan to become a big Low Traffic Neighbourhood: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/04/birmingham-to-become-a-super-sized-low-traffic-neighbourhood

And how that plan was inspired by the Belgian city of Ghent: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/20/how-a-belgian-port-city-inspired-birminghams-car-free-ambitions

Newham's Living Streets local group: https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/get-involved/local-groups/newham-local-group/

And our interview with the late Waseem Zaffar, formerly Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment at Birmingham City Council, who sadly died this year https://shows.acast.com/streets-ahead/episodes/episode-9-the-west-midlands

His successor, Liz Clements, also featured on the podcast, as part of a panel discussion https://shows.acast.com/streets-ahead/episodes/live-from-london-walking-and-cycling-conference

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This episode of Streets Ahead examines the issue of children’s access to neighbourhood streets, and the impact of car dominance on child health. Discussing the issue with Adam and Laura are:

Alice Ferguson, who co-founded play streets charity, Playing Out, in 2011, and ran it for 15 years until it wound up this year. In 2009 Alice and a neighbour developed the idea of a temporary play street and two years later started a charity dedicated to helping others to do the same. This became a UK-wide resident-led movement with a huge impact on perceptions of what streets are for. 

Tim Gill, researcher, writer and independent scholar based in London, and the author of two books on child-centred design. These are Urban Playground: How child-friendly urban planning and design can save cities and No Fear: Growing up in a risk averse society. His organisation is Rethinking Childhood https://rethinkingchildhood.com/about/ 

Alice and Tim have produced a new report, called: Streets for play, streets for freedom: How a “child lens” would transform transport policy.

This was born from frustration and outrage that decades of warm words and research around the importance of tackling road safety for children’s wellbeing, as well as their safety, has failed to translate into action. In those years traffic on residential roads has risen and car-centric thinking has arguably become further entrenched, despite pockets of best practice.

Tim Gill and Alice Ferguson talk about their decades of work on this topic and what a child-friendly street would look like. The discussion ranges to play streets to Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, to tackling systemic problems of car dependence and 'motornormativity' that sustain the status quo. First of all, however, we need to really understand the negative impacts of the status quo.

The effect on children, Gill argues is a century-long pandemic that’s hidden in plain sight. Alice points out children are absent from political debate, and so their views are often not represented, despite knowledge of the harm.

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This episode of Streets Ahead dives into London’s Vision Zero Action Plan 2, the Mayor’s roadmap to eliminating death and serious injury on the capital’s roads by 2041.

Laura Laker and Adam Tranter are joined by London’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner, Will Norman, to assess progress so far and interrogate whether the ambition matches delivery. We explore falling casualty rates, the expansion of cycle infrastructure, and the role of 20mph limits and vehicle safety standards, while asking tougher questions about enforcement, policing, and political headwinds.

The conversation also tackles some of the more contentious issues shaping London’s streets today, from SUVs and side-road zebras to the future of cycling in central London and the balance between different road users.

You can read more about London's Vision Zero Action Plan 2 here: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/protecting-our-network/road-safety/vision-zero-for-london

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In this episode Laura joins a host of (almost entirely female) guests, out on the road in London to talk about how cycle routes deliver - or not - for women’s safety. 

In early 2025 Laura interviewed women on the London Cycling Campaign’s Women’s Freedom Ride, a mass ride, after dark, to highlight the safety concerns women face when cycling in London - and how some of the capital’s routes just don’t feel that safe at night.

At the time the Women's Network had just launched a report that showed almost a quarter, 24%, of the city’s cycle routes did not feel safe at night. This meant routes that were isolated, and in some cases poorly lit. The Network’s previous research found that a third of women stop cycling in winter because of safety issues. It also revealed the shocking levels of harassment some women experience on the streets.

Unfortunately some of the audio from that ride was unusable because of the challenges of cycling while recording - so undeterred, a year later Laura went out to gather more recordings and find out what has happened for women's safety in the last year. 

In January 2026, Laura went along to the opening of an almost-finished cycle lane and two junction redesigns at one of London’s worst collision hotspots, at Lambeth Bridge. 

This was sadly the site of a fatal collision in which art designer Moira Gemmill, was killed while cycling in 2015, when a distracted lorry driver turned into her path.

This episode Laura spoke to:

Kate Bartlett, the mastermind behind the London Cycling Campaign’s Women’s Network’s on-the-ground research around the social safety of London’s cycle infrastructure

Zoe Garbett, Green London Assembly Member 

Kerena Fussell, London Cycling Campaign Women’s Network 

Deborah from Leytonstone, LCC Women’s Network

Natalie Lyndsey, on the Board of Trustees of the London Cycling Campaign

Helen Cansick, head of safe and healthy streets investment planning for Transport for London

Will Norman, London’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner

Coverage of the LCC Women's Network's first report from 2024 https://nla.london/news/what-stops-women-cycling-in-london

The London Cycling Campaign’s Women’s Network report, Women’s Freedom After Dark, 2025: https://lcc.org.uk/news/womens-freedom-after-dark/

Moira Gemmill’s death at the hands of a distracted lorry driver: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-39027676

Work to improve Lambeth Bridge for cycling https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2025/january/tfl-begins-next-phase-of-work-to-improve-safety-at-lambeth-bridge

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This time Adam, Ned and Laura meet to discuss local elections and Ned's recent trip to India. Close to home, the trio discusses the phenomenon of the local being national. From Andy Street and Andy Burnham's successes as regional mayors, to a Court of Appeal ruling that removing LTNs by the Tower Hamlets mayor would be illegal, local politics shapes national politics.

And with the political landscape more fractured than ever, active travel is on the political agenda again. The fractures caused by budget cuts can show up as U-turns on cycling and walking policy and sudden losses of confidence in local authorities in the face of public challenge. Can local authorities in the UK learn from politicians steps and missteps, and can campaigners help steel them for the road ahead?

Ned's adventures in India: https://shows.acast.com/never-strays-far/episodes/never-strays-raj-a-cycling-passage-to-india

Laura's Substack post on the Newham mayoral elections: https://substack.com/home/post/p-185413267

And the news last month that Tower Hamlets mayor, Lutfur Rahman's bid to remove Low Traffic Neighbourhoods would be unlawful https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3kkven14no

That clip of Zohran Mamdani fixing a bike lane on the Williamsburg Bridge: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7F8ZVOfjS2o

One Telegraph columnist's recent take on 15-minutes cities as a 'Stalinist plot': https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/f337a3f300adace0

And finally, if you want to ask Ned, Adam and Laura questions for a forthcoming episode, find us on social media or email us on [email protected].

For 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! 

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This time Ned, Adam and Laura talk targets - and why the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS3) needs outputs, not simply outcomes. They are joined by the CEO of the Walk, Wheel, Cycle Trust (formerly Sustrans), Xavier Brice, who knows all about strategies, and delivering active transport networks.

The government recently ended a consultation on CWIS3 but, frustratingly, the proposals lacked any investment or much strategy. There were no SMART targets, or any outputs, i.e. routes; simply the unachievable outcome that by 2035 walking, wheeling and cycling will be "a safe, easy and accessible option for everyone". Road Investment Strategies, by contrast, focus heavily on routes and infrastructure, so why do we treat walking, wheeling and cycling differently?

Xavier Brice has been CEO of the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust since 2016. In 2007 Brice led the development of a new walking and cycling strategy for London, with Transport for London.

This month Adam, Laura and Xavier Brice coordinated an open letter to the Secretary of State supporting a better CWIS3. That letter was signed by more than 50 organisations across health, active travel and beyond. It asked that central government maps a true national network of routes by 2030, and sets targets to deliver that network to a proper, accessible standard by 2050.

You can read the letter here: https://bsky.app/profile/adamtranter.bsky.social/post/3m7fv3vhyks2r

The letter was covered in the Guardian by Peter Walker: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/dec/12/drivers-cyclists-transport-policy-conservatives-culture-wars-road-safety 

Shortly after that, Walker interviewed transport minister, Lilian Greenwood, about the importance of 'creating a system that works for everyone': https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/dec/12/drivers-cyclists-transport-policy-conservatives-culture-wars-road-safety

Laura’s Freedom of Information requests to English local authorities found just 2 per cent had used legal powers to purchase land - something that's done routinely for roads https://substack.com/home/post/p-178788505

And her article on CWIS3: https://lauralaker.substack.com/p/a-cycling-and-walking-strategy-walks

The Walk, Wheel Cycle Trust has been improving the National Cycle Network (NCN). In 2023/24 1.7km of an off-road muddy track connecting the residential area of Newton, in West Doncaster, to Danum retail park, was widened (on NCN62), with seven barriers removed or redesigned, along with improved wayfinding and signage. Estimated annual usage rose by 196% according to the Walk, Wheel Cycle Trust, from 150,000 trips in 2022 to 450,000 in 2024. Pedestrian and cycling trips increased by 191% and 192% respectively, while other users increased by 270%. Another path improvement project in Redcar and Cleveland saw ten barriers removed on NCN1 and NCN68. Wheelchair user trips increased four-fold, from 200 to 800, with 100% of disabled users saying they now use the route as the most convenient option.

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Last week marked five years since the previous government's pavement parking consultation ended and in that time, no action has been taken.

Despite cross party, and public support, no decisions have been made by any of the intervening four prime ministers’ governments.

In the meantime local authorities in Scotland began enforcing its pavement parking law, passed in 2019, with some success. There, drivers can be fined £100 for these parking behaviours; reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days.

To discuss what went wrong in England, we have Tanya Braun, Living Streets’ Director of External Affairs and Fundraising. Living Streets has long campaigned to ban pavement parking; for decades, in fact - see March 2025's episode, interviewing veteran walking campaigner Terence Bendixson.

Ned, Laura and Adam discuss with Tanya the way forward - and the impact of the hiatus on action, which hits very close to home for Ned.

Living Streets has produced a map of ‘pavement parking hotspots’, which people can add problem locations to. More than 1500 people have added photos of vehicles left parked on pavements in a new campaign organised by the charity. Manchester and Oxford are among the worst offenders, with nearly 200 pins across Greater Manchester, they say. Their campaign is here: https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/get-involved/end-pavement-parking-in-england/ 

Those worst affected by pavement parking are people with disabilities - wheelchair users who might not be able to get past a parked vehicle, and those with visual impairments, who can’t see if it’s safe to step out into the road. People with children, buggies, mobility aids, elderly people, are just some of the vulnerable road users hampered by blocked pavements. Some people might choose not to leave their house. 21% of the population identify as having a disability

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