02 Oct 2023 New funding to boost walking and cycling to school: Food Active response
Up to 2 million more children will have access to walk to school programmes and cycle training programmes over the next 2 years, after a multimillion-pound investment announced by Active Travel England.
The £60 million package will help parents have more confidence to walk or cycle with their kids on the school run by funding initiatives that give more children better road skills and aim to help make it easier for parents to choose greener travel options.
Our Programme Lead, Nicola Calder responds:
It is fantastic to see this funding boost to make walking and cycling to school more accessible for families across the country.
Latest statistics from the National Travel Survey show that the number of children and young people walking to school has decreased in recent years. In 2022, 49% of children aged 5-10 years old walked to school, down from 53% in 2017 and just 2% cycle to school.
Promoting active modes of transport to families presents a great opportunity to improve children’s health, whilst helping to protect the environment by reducing congestion, carbon emissions and improving air quality. However, this type of approach needs to go hand-in hand with vital investment into longer-term programmes and plans to create the infrastructures in local communities that enable active travel.
For more information, click here to read the press release.
