About this episode

The episode discusses local elections, the impact of local politics on national issues, and Ned's recent trip to India.

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…

People in this episode

Hosts: Adam, Ned, Laura

Topics covered

• local elections
• politics
• active travel
• cycling
• walking policy
• India
• Low Traffic Neighbourhoods

Keywords

• local elections
• politics
• active travel
• cycling
• Low Traffic Neighbourhoods
• India
• public challenge

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Tower Hamlets, BBC, Telegraph

Places: India, Williamsburg Bridge

More episodes of Streets Ahead

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• Outputs not outcomes (CWIS3) · December 22, 2025 · 52 min
• Pavement Parking: An Unhappy Fifth Birthday · November 29, 2025 · 49 min
• Lisbon’s Streets and the People Trying to Change Them · October 7, 2025 · 1h 1m

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