Christopher Hammond, Director of Membership & Insights at UK100, was invited to contribute to the recent episode of Panorama focused on debates around local traffic reduction measures. You can watch the full episode on BBC iPlayer here.

Following the programme airing, Christopher added: "It’s lazy to assert that people can hold only two (extreme) positions on traffic interventions, such as cycle lanes and low-traffic neighbourhoods. People can be legitimately worried about specific measures without being conspiracy theorists.

"It's not the residents concerned about their local communities turning to death threats in Oxford or disrupting local meetings in Norfolk with imported US anti-vaccine talking points. But these — rare — occurrences show how local debate can be hijacked and poisoned by outside elements who knowingly peddle conspiracy theories designed to anger and frighten communities.

"They are well-organised and dominate media coverage. They aim to have a chilling effect on local politicians who are unprepared for the ferocity of the opposition. The longer this goes on, the further we all are from having the safer streets and cleaner air the majority of the population wants for their neighbourhoods — as consistently demonstrated by surveys and polls."