Kramer Attacks £40k+ Underspend On Cycling Budget

5.16.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 25th Oct 2004

Tory run Richmond Council under-spent its cycling grant from Transport for London last year and questions are being asked about why this happened. Susan Kramer, Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Richmond Park, described it as a "missed opportunity" to improve the lot of cyclists.

Susan Kramer said: "Richmond was allocated £203,000 and spent £161,230 of it - a 20 per cent under-spend. Lib Dem run Kingston in comparison under-spent by six per cent.

"This money is now lost as it cannot be rolled over into another budget year and opportunities to improve cycle lanes and introduce more safe routes have been scuppered.

"It is ironic as this did not even come out of the Council's own budget and was given to Richmond by Transport for London so no hard choices had to be made between cycling and funding other services."