01 Jun 2023 Active Travel England to be consulted on all large planning applications: Food Active response
Active Travel England (ATE) will now help deliver walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure on all future large developments, enabling more people to make healthier, greener and cheaper travel choices.
As of June 2023, ATE is now officially a statutory consultee on all planning applications for developments equal to or exceeding 150 housing units, 7,500 m2 of floorspace or an area of 5 hectares. This will see ATE reviewing around 3,100 applications a year, equating to 60% of new homes.
Our Programme Lead, Nicola Calder, responds:
We strongly welcome the new role of Active Travel England as a consultee in future large scale planning applications, this will go a long way towards uniting active travel and planning to improve public health outcomes for local communities.
By providing more opportunities for communities to walk, wheel or cycle to schools, workplaces and local amenities and services, this can help to promote healthier weight, reduce harmful emissions and save people money.
Last year we published a briefing paper ‘Planning for Active Travel’ to outline how unifying public health, design, and planning can help to promote walking and cycling and reduce health inequalities.
Access the briefing paper here
