Sustrans has now become a large corporate institution, with nearly 200 staff and 14 offices around the country, responsible for spending millions of pounds of public money channelled to them from central and regional government.
A charity is a fascinating entity. It tends to thrive on the tension created between the status quo, and a significant element of the public who wants to change that status quo. If the tension is relieved, by, for example, actually changing the status quo in some lasting and significant way, the charity has potentially put itself, and the hundreds of employees who depend on a pay check every month, out of a job. By actually succeeding in its mission, Sustrans might place its very existence on the line. So as it turns out, what’s good for Sustrans is not necessarily good for the UK…..”
“ou need to know about Sustrans, the national cycling charity. How big they are in the UK. Where they get all their money from. Who supports them. And what they are doing.
“You need to know what a danger they are, not least in relation to the health and safety of the cyclists themselves, and of pedestrians when they ride on pavements. Sorry but I also feel for the thousands of motorists who have killed or injured them, maybe in an unguarded moment, where the cyclists themselves could have been partly responsible. And, as a motorist, I worry about the vulnerability of cyclists especially on busy, narrow town and city roads where cycle lanes are intermittent, highly undesirable or impracticable and non-existent, maybe riding their bikes there without a helmet or insurance. I was a cyclist.”