Active Travel

What is the aim of this workstream?

• To increase children's active travel and street-based physical activities such as playing outside, travelling to and from school and faith settings and other locations within and across neighbourhoods.
• To prepare and enable neighbourhood action groups and its members to strategically plan active travel and street plans and have confidence to influence plans in partnership with the local authority.

By working on these objectives, it will try to reduce consistent barriers on children's active travel and playing in the streets due to safety and other concerns.

The approach

The Active Travel and Streets workstream will seek to achieve its two aims through the co-production of active travel and street plans within neighbourhood action groups, along with schools and faith settings.
Each neighbourhood action group will be presented with a catalogue of different evidence/insight-based interventions which the group can choose from, based upon their suitability and the neighbourhood needs. This will mean that the active streets and travel implementation work may vary from neighbourhood to neighbourhood.
This will increase local children and families' capability, opportunity and motivation to be active everyday through travelling across the neighbourhoods and using streets on a regular basis, all which could significantly contribute to daily levels of physical activity.

What has been achieved so far?

In 2020, temporary chalk markings were installed on local pavements around 4 neighbourhood greenspaces - Pitty Beck, Peel Park, Lister Park and West Park. Feedback from 32 children was positive and no complaints were received from community members.

The majority of JU:MP schools in the 3 pioneer neighbourhoods have worked with active travel experts to develop active travel plans, and have begun to implement them. Many have also taken part in the Living Streets Walk the World challenge and a JU:MP to School intervention, both of which are short-term interventions to promote behaviour change of children in how they travel to school in a more active way.

Additionally, three schools within the pioneer neighbourhoods have been chosen to receive funding from BMDC to implement 'School Streets'. The local authority funding is being used to facilitate the closure of streets around the school site, at the start and end of the school day, to promote active travel to school, and also reducing air pollution.