A source said cycling was off the government's agenda

Ministers were accused of a U-turn on cycling last night after it emerged that George Osborne will fail to guarantee funds for safe bike lanes in the forthcoming spending review.

The Times has learnt that cycling is likely to lose out to road building and rail upgrade projects when five-year budgets for government departments are set out next month. The government has pledged to create Britain’s first cycling and walking strategy, a policy blueprint to double the number of people regularly travelling by bicycle.

It was hoped that the strategy would lead to a dedicated budget for cycling for the first time — a key demand of The Times’s Cities fit for Cycling campaign.

A source close to the spending review said that cycling