Anti-cycling media narrative is bad for UK health, says former Olympian Boardman

The UK's public health is being directly harmed by anti-cycling coverage in parts of the media, Chris Boardman, who heads the government's main active travel organisation, has told the Guardian.

- Peter Walker

Boardman, a former champion cyclist and businessman, leads Active Travel England (ATE) and is at the forefront of government efforts to help people switch from car trips to healthier and more sustainable travel.

Set up in 2020 by Boris Johnson to help councils create well-designed schemes, ATE endured a difficult time as Rishi Sunak's government battled against bus lanes and 20mph limits as well as low-traffic neighbourhoods.

While this culture war has abated since the election, Boardman said that pushing for better walking and cycling routes remained "very politically noisy", which could particularly put off local politicians.

Boardman is openly angry about what he sees as misleading media coverage that presents cyclists as reckless and dangerous when, in a statistic he uses regularly, more Britons are killed by cows or lightning every year than by bikes.

"At the moment we have a very consistent, non-evidence-based, negative narrative to stop any change. It is stopping people wanting to put their heads up and do difficult things," he said in an interview.