The construction of a car park – with all the pollution it would create – under a playground for children was yet another example of the way in which vehicles remained the priority for policy-makers, Michelle Attard Tonna, the president of the Bicycle Advocacy Group, lamented.

From widening roads, to retaining on-street car parking, little was being done to disincentivise the use of cars, she told this week's edition of Times Talk.

Removing the car’s status as the king of the road was the only way to encourage modal shifts in transport, not only to cycling but also walking, she argued.