Active Travel schemes are seeing an increase in local councils across England, particularly following the establishment of a brand-new executive agency, Active Travel England. Theses schemes can enable residents and local communities to help shape the way they interact with their local environment. However, this can only be achieved through meaningful, in-depth engagement with residents and stakeholders to understand their wants and needs in this regard.
What is Active Travel?
Active Travel can best be understood as journeys made through physical activity, such as walking or cycling. This can be integrated in several ways. Towns Funds highlights wider crossings, continuous footways, the planting of trees and removal of clutter as just a few ways that can enable people to better engage with their town environment and make use of its assets.
The health benefits of walking and cycling to individuals are already well-documented, and active travel is a means to enabling residents to reap those benefits. It’s similarly well-documented that more walkable neighbourhoods are generally equated with lesser levels of air pollution than less walkable neighbourhoods, too.
Active Travel is set to become a much larger talking point in England over the next eight years. The Department of Transport’s new executive agency, Active Travel England, recently shared their new framework for Active Travel, with a set target of increasing the amount of Active Travel journeys in urban areas by 50% by 2030. To help encourage councils to make the change, Active Travel England have shared that councils can access a greater amount of funding for their Active Travel projects by demonstrating their commitment to this cause. These developments are now beginning to be seen in local councils across England. In Shoreham, South Sussex, Active Travel routes are set to be developed following successful public consultation. Similarly, in Stockport, a new 195-metre Active Travel route is set to be developed as part of the city’s £1bn developments.
How ECF comes into this
ECF has worked on several projects encouraging the development of Active Travel. In August and September of last year, we worked with Haringey Council on their public consultation for the development of a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) in the St Ann’s area. LTNs can be defined as schemes that reduce motor traffic in an area to enable greater active travel. Haringey Council had two different proposals for an LTN in St Ann’s, and ECF developed a questionnaire that received over 1,000 responses, to determine which proposal was preferred by local residents and the community.
Alongside the community questionnaire, ECF developed a separate, dedicated survey to listen to the views of disabled residents and carers. The survey crucially found that many disabled residents and/or carers had specific concerns regarding equal access to Active Travel. In response, Haringey Council developed an exemption criterion that allows disabled residents and their carers to drive motor vehicles through the LTNs. Here, ECF’s work enabled the council to develop an Active Travel scheme that is inclusive and allows all the community to engage with. Concurrently, this enabled residents to help shape their physical environment and tailor it to their individual needs.
Similarly, in February of this year, ECF launched a new project with Haringey Council to provide a ten-week consultation on its proposed Walking and Action Cycling Plan (WCAP) – a ten-year plan to enable the London Borough of Haringey to become a “green walking and cycling borough”. This consultation sought to, again, give local stakeholders a voice in how Active Travel is developed in their area. ECF achieved this through the establishment of a dedicated online engagement platform, pop-up events and digital public meetings. By including both in-person and remote ways of engaging with the consultation, ECF ensured that the process could be as inclusive and far-reaching as possible.
The consultation found that overall, respondents supported the introduction of a Walking and Cycling Action Plan. However, some obligations were included, in particular issues of ensuring accessibility and safety. In response to this, Haringey Council announced that they would include “inclusive strategic cycling routes” that link to LTNs, so as to reduce the risk of collisions. ECF’s work here, enabled the council to incorporate residents and give them a voice in how Active Travel is developed in their area. This strengthens the ability of residents to engage with their local environment and its assets.
Active Travel is, rightfully, seeing an increase across England. While it’s reassuring to see Active Travel England encouraging these developments from local councils, it is imperative that the voices of residents and local stakeholders continue to be included and uplifted to help create an inclusionary form of Active Travel that we can all engage with.
If you would like to find out more about how we can support your Active Travel scheme, ensuring that communities are meaningfully engaged with, or have any questions, then please contact the team at: info@engagecf.co.uk.
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