Image: DfT
The Government has published the second cycling and walking investment strategy (CWIS2), outlining its plans until 2025.
The strategy includes new and updated objectives, reflecting the increased importance of active travel in recent years. These include doubling levels of cycling and increasing the percentage of children aged 5-10 years who usually walk to school.
It also sets out the funding in place to achieve these aims, with the projection that nearly £4bn will be invested in walking and cycling over the CWIS2 period (2021-25).
This funding will help to deliver new and improved walking and cycling routes across England as well as behaviour change programmes.
The strategy forward reads: “In the midst of the pandemic, we saw quieter roads, buses and trains.
“However, during this time of disruption for much of the transport network, previously unsung forms of travel thrived. Cycling rates increased by 46% and a million more people started walking for leisure.
“This active travel renaissance uncovered a pent-up demand for a different way of travelling, particularly for shorter journeys. Quieter roads and less congestion gave many of us the space, confidence and opportunity to get behind the handlebars or put on our walking shoes.
“Now that the economy has reopened and road usage is back to pre-pandemic levels, we cannot afford to lose those active travellers. This second cycling and walking investment strategy (CWIS2) reaffirms our commitment to making walking, wheeling and cycling the natural choices for millions more journeys.”
Active travel continues to ‘rise up the Government agenda’
In 2017, the Government published the first ever statutory cycling and walking investment strategy (CWIS1), which covered the period between 2016 and 2021.
The publication ‘marked the starting post of a journey to make walking and cycling the natural choice for short trips’.
Some 26 actions were outlined in CWIS1, among which included the review and subsequent changes to the Highway Code, the delivery of the Cycle Ambition Cities programme and the introduction of the Cycle Infrastructure Design Guidance.
The Government says it has made ‘significant progress’ towards achieving the ambitions of CWIS1, and has published a new report on the subject.
The CWIS2 strategy reflects the fact that walking, wheeling and cycling have ‘continued to rise up the Government agenda’ in recent years, particularly in light of the Covid pandemic.
The objectives of CWIS2 are to:
- Increase the percentage of short journeys in towns and cities that are walked or cycled from 41% in 2018 to 2019 to 46% in 2025
- Increase walking activity, where walking activity is measured as the total number of walking stages per person per year, to 365 stages per person per year in 2025
- Double cycling, where cycling activity is measured as the estimated total number of cycling stages made each year, from 0.8 billion stages in 2013 to 1.6 billion stages in 2025
- Increase the percentage of children aged 5-10 years who usually walk to school from 49% in 2014 to 55% in 2025
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