Draft Active Travel Strategy Consultation
The Active Travel Strategy sets out our approach to managing active travel strategies in Central Bedfordshire. Click on the 'comment' button at the end of each section to have your say. You can comment on as many sections as you like.
1. Introduction
1.1 This document sets out the strategy and actions underway to promote 'active' modes of travel across Central Bedfordshire. It is part of the suite of documents that inform the authority's fourth Local Transport Plan (LTP) and replaces the polices set out in the documents 'More People Walking' and 'More People Cycling', adopted by the Council in 2011.
1.2 For walking, the strategy focuses on the journeys people regularly make that would take less than 20 minutes to complete. In England, the National Travel Survey shows 21% of trips fit into this category. For cycling and scooting, the focus is on the local trips people make that are up to five miles and occasionally longer in length. Collectively this covers the majority of trips made by residents to destinations in their town or in the case of villages, to the closest nearby town.
1.3 The strategy addresses the issues considered important by pedestrians and cyclists within Central Bedfordshire when deciding whether to walk, wheel or cycle. It draws links to wider transport, environmental, economic, health and sustainability benefits from active travel and provides eight high-level objectives to be used to track and report the impact of various improvements and incentives.
1.4 This strategy sits alongside the authority's suite of six Local Cycling and Walking infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs). These plans set out in detail the on-the-ground improvements needed to interconnect towns and to make them more pedestrian and cyclist friendly. As planned proposals are implemented, walking and cycling will be progressively advantaged over car travel. The implementation of LCWIPs is a strategic priority for the Council and progress is tracked by the authority's Corporate Management Team.
1.5 The strategy also complements the Council's Sustainable Modes of Travel to Schools Strategy. This sets out how the authority is discharging its duty under Section 76 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 to promote sustainable travel specifically for the home to school journey.
