The government says it wants 60 per cent of all children to cycle, walk, or wheel to school by 2035, as part of a new active travel strategy which aims to install 5,000 new safe routes and 10,000 crossings in the next four years, while focusing on “everyday travel needs” that do not divide cyclists and motorists into separate categories.
The government’s new Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy – the first to be published under the current Labour administration – is set to be formally unveiled tonight at 10pm. Details of the document, however, were reported on Thursday morning by the Guardian’s Peter Walker, who revealed that the government has promised an active travel spend of £4.5bn over the next five years.
That investment marks a significant rise from the £3.78bn earmarked for active travel by Boris Johnson’s Conservative government in 2022, the last time the UK’s cycling and walking strategy was refreshed.
The 2022 strategy aimed to increase the percentage of short journeys in towns and cities that are walked or cycled to 50 per cent in 2030 and to 55 per cent in 2035, by delivering a “world-class cycling and walking network” in England by 2040.
However, the Johnson-era strategy was criticised by Cycling UK for presenting “a glaring mismatch between the increases in cycling and walking the Department for Transport is aiming to achieve, and the funding available for doing so”.
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Nevertheless, the 55 per cent target for short urban active travel journeys outlined by Johnson’s government remains intact in Labour’s new strategy. However, it has been modified slightly to simply include some form of active travel as part of these short journeys. Essentially, that means if someone combines active travel with another mode of transport, such as the train, their journey still counts towards the 55 per cent target.
The strategy also outlines Labour’s plans to build 5,000 new cycling, walking, and wheeling routes in England by 2030, as well as 10,000 safer crossings, connecting homes to schools, town centres, and other services.
Those new routes around schools form part of Labour’s bid to have at least 60 per cent of all children, aged between five and 16, cycling, walking, or wheeling to class. Currently, only 45 per cent of pupils use active travel, with most school schemes focused on primary-aged children, who tend to live closer to their schools.
The inclusion of these targets come after the initial draft of the new Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy was criticised for failing to include any specifics.
Earlier this week, Local Transport Minister Lilian Greenwood told MPs that the Department for Transport had “considered the evidence to help us shape a strategy with clear targets, one that weaves cycling and walking into the fabric of our national transport network”.
As reported by the Guardian, transport secretary Hiedi Alexander said the new strategy represents a renewed focus on “everyday travel needs”, following the “distractions” of major infrastructure projects such as HS2 and the formation of the state-owned Great British Railways.
“There is a world in which you only talk about planes, trains, and automobiles, and I’ve been very clear that I didn’t want that to happen,” she said.
However, Alexander also insisted that there is to be “no war on motorists”, the phrase coined by former Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak as he attempted to roll back some of Johnson’s more active travel-friendly policies.
“Most people in this country drive. They walk, they cycle, they might use public transport, they might jump on a bus, they might use a train, and so trying to divide people into different categories is a complete waste of time,” she said.
According to Alexander, promoting cycling as a form of transport has both economic and health benefits, with Labour recognising that a shift away from formal sport or exercise schemes, such as ‘couch to 5k’, is key to encouraging more people to be active and healthy.
“The most important thing that we could do from a public health perspective is get the people who do absolutely nothing at the moment to do something,” she said.
“It’s something I think about quite a lot myself, in terms of this job being absolutely insane, in terms of the number of hours I have to work, and how do I build in a little bit of physical activity into my life.
“I’m an overweight 51-year old woman, and what we’re doing through this cycling and walking investment strategy is about how we get, frankly, people like me to be a little bit more active.”
“I tried couch to 5k, and found it really difficult. But ask me to leave my car at home and cycle five or 10 minutes to the supermarket when I want to pick up some milk and a loaf of bread, that’s something that I could easily do.”
