New ‘toolbox’ aims to help boost walking and cycling

Image: Sustrans

A new active travel toolbox has been launched in an effort to help local authorities make the case for, and improve, walking and cycling schemes.

The free toolbox has been created by Sustrans in partnership with Living Streets, the TAS Partnership and Dr Adrian Davis from the University of West England.

It is organised into three areas: making the economic case for active travel; linking active travel and public transport to housing growth and planning; and the role of active travel in improving health.

Sustrans says that walking and cycling can contribute towards economic performance by reducing congestion. The charity adds that making it easier for families and communities to walk and cycle also improves health and air quality.

The toolbox includes three ‘tools’ which can be used for forecasting the impact of planned interventions:

• The Infrastructure Impact Tool – estimates the impact of investments in specific types of cycling infrastructure.
• The Recreational Expenditure Model – estimates the economic benefit of recreational cycling in terms of expenditure in the local economy.
• The Strategic Investment Tool –aids understanding around the impact and cost of multi-intervention investment.

Jason Torrance, policy director at Sustrans, said: “There is a growing body of evidence that demonstrates investment in walking and cycling has many economic, social, health and environmental benefits and so it must be prioritised.

“Governments have begun to recognise this, recently with the publication of England’s first Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy. The challenge now is to deliver change locally.

“This toolbox brings together existing evidence and supporting case studies from across the UK and beyond to help local authorities and their partners make the case for and deliver walking and cycling solutions on the ground.”

Tompion Platt, head of policy and communications at Living Streets, said: “We welcomed the government’s recent commitment to get more people walking. Now it’s essential that local authorities and LEPs get to work to reduce car use and enable more people to walk and cycle.”