Over half of all children in England should be walking or cycling to school within the next 10 years. That’s what our government is aiming to achieve in their new active travel plans.
In the new plans, millions more 5 to 16 year olds will be able to walk or bike to schools and clubs using thousands of safer routes the government are promising to invest in.
Over £4.5 billion will be investment into these new safer plans.
At least half of all smaller trips, into towns and cities should be walked, wheeled or cycled by 2035 and a “national walking and cycling network” will be available on mapping apps within five years.
The boss of Transport in the UK Heidi Alexander said the plan is to make active travel “a practical choice for millions more journeys”.
Some 5,000 walking, wheeling and cycling routes and 10,000 “safer” crossings will be built by 2030 to meet the new target, the Department for Transport (DfT) said.
£135 million will be spent on programmes training children to walk and cycle safely to school, and to help schools develop travel plans.
The increase would mean 5.3 million more people being physically active in towns and cities, ministers say.
