ACT and over 50 active travel groups call for clearer cycling and walking aims in letter to transport secretary
Posted on in Business News , Cycles News
The ACT has joined more than 50 organisations in signing a letter to transport secretary Heidi Alexander calling for clearer, measurable national targets for walking, wheeling and cycling in England.
The letter urges the government to strengthen Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy 3 (CWIS3) by moving from “good intentions” to a fully deliverable long-term plan with defined outputs to 2030 and a vision stretching to 2050.
It calls for national targets to be set and monitored, including the previously stated aim for 50% of short urban journeys to be walked or cycled by 2030, while also arguing that active travel must be placed on an equal footing with long-term national planning for roads and rail.
Jonathan Harrison
Jonathan Harrison, Director of the ACT, who signed the letter on behalf of the association, said: “ACT are proud to join over 50 organisations urging government to strengthen Cycling & Walking Investment Strategy 3. To achieve healthier, safer and more accessible travel for everyone, England needs clear national targets and a meaningful plan for walking, wheeling and cycling.”
A central ask is the creation of a “network of networks”, linking local walking and cycling infrastructure plans with the National Cycling Network and wider regional ambitions, with the letter also stating that active travel routes must join up nationally while being designed locally, and should connect people to rail stations, bus hubs, hospitals, schools, high streets and green space.
Adam Tranter, former Cycling & Walking Commissioner, said on LinkedIn that the strategy “needs measurable targets because warm words won’t build safe routes”, adding that “there’s no reason active travel should be treated as an optional extra”.
Xavier Brice of the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust said CWIS3 was meant to bring an end to “stop-start funding and priorities” but has “never quite lived up to this promise,” while Journalist and Author Laura Laker, who helped coordinate the letter, said clear milestones would “finally put walking and cycling on a par with roads and rail”.
The groups warn that without reliable, safe, joined-up routes, people cannot reasonably be expected to travel actively, limiting opportunity, independence and public health.