Active Travel: Third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy

The government last week launched the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy which aims to deliver 5,000 new walking, wheeling and cycling routes and 10,000 safer crossings over the next 5 years.

Secretary of State for Health, James Murray, said:

The benefits of walking and cycling for our physical health, mental wellbeing and our communities are clear, and even small increases in physical activity can make a big difference. This investment will help more people build exercise into their everyday lives, improving public health and supporting our ambition to reduce pressure on the NHS.

The cycling and walking investment strategy demonstrates how we’re working across government to deliver for our communities and reduce health inequalities, while helping fulfil our commitments as set out in the 10 Year Health Plan.

Published alongside Active Travel England’s Worth Every Step delivery plan, the strategy sets out how investment in active travel can save households money, improve public health, cut congestion, reduce carbon emissions and support local economies.

By getting more people adopting healthier lifestyles, it would free up around 1.7 million GP appointments every year and lead to 4.4 million fewer sick days.

The strategy further says that :

By 2030, ATE will establish the basis for a national active travel network by connecting the high-quality local routes already built, funded or planned.

This means treating existing programmes as parts of one system rather than separate initiatives – bringing together:

• local cycling and walking infrastructure plans (LCWIPs), which already identify around 20,000 miles of planned routes
• almost 7,000 additional or improved miles across the national cycle network and wider local routes identified through rights of way improvement plans
• programmes delivered by partners such as National Highways

By aligning these programmes as a single national network, funding can be directed more strategically, priorities can be clearer and delivery can build towards one coherent outcome.

This approach will bring together both urban and rural networks linking towns and villages across England. ATE will update LCWIP guidance to help develop local networks, and develop rural design guidance to support appropriate walking, wheeling and cycling routes in rural areas. ATE’s collaboration with English national park authorities to develop LCWIPs will further enhance local routes and promote greater access in rural areas.

More information can be found at : https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cycling-and-walking-boom-with-45-billion-for-thousands-of-new-routes-and-safer-crossings 

Chief Executive of the Rural Services Network, Kerry Booth says: We welcome the publication of the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, but it will be important to explore the detail, and see the way that it can help provide alternative means of transport for rural communities who too often have to rely on a car due to the lack of public transport, unsafe walking or cycling routes and lack of alternative options.  We believe that the answer for rural communities’ transport needs, is a multimodal approach and in particular when new housing is delivered in rural communities, the ability to walk and cycle safely between villages and service centres is important and should be considered at the design stage of development.