Draft Active Travel Strategy Consultation
2. Policy Context
2.1 National policy
2.1.1 In July 2021 the Government published Decarbonising Transport, setting out the commitments and the actions needed to decarbonise the entire transport system in the UK. This document reaffirmed the aims set out in the Department for Transport's Gear Change document, with local authorities encouraged to seize a 'once-in-a-generation chance' to accelerate active travel and make walking, wheeling and cycling the natural first choice for shorter journeys.
2.1.2 Decarbonising Transport references ambitious policies intended to transform walking and cycling and set out walking-specific aims and targets:
- Increase the number of children aged 5 to 10 that usually walk to school to 55% by 2025
- Raise the number of journeys or part journeys walked per person per year to 300 by 2025
- Increase the local journeys in towns and cities walked, wheeled, or cycled to 50% by 2030
- Every town and city in England to have high quality walking and cycling networks by 2040.
2.2 Regional policy
2.2.1 In February 2021 England's Economic Heartland (EEH) published their Regional Transport Strategy, with the overarching aim to support sustainable economic growth against an ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions from transport by 2040.
2.2.2 The Heartland strategy take the view that travel patterns and resource consumption will need to change if the region is to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Hence, there is a need to effect a change that reduces the need to travel and means residents are less reliance on the private car. Central Bedfordshire Council was involved throughout the strategy's formulation and endorsed its policies.
EEH Policy No. 4: We will work with infrastructure owners and operators to ensure that proposals brought forward for the development of the transport system reduce reliance on the private car by considering the needs of users based on the following travel hierarchy:
- Active travel modes (pedestrians and cyclists)
- Enabling access to services and opportunities without need for motorised travel
- Public transport and shared modes (bus, scheduled coach, and rail)
- Low emission / zero carbon private vehicles, and two-wheeler vehicles including motorcycles
- Other motorised modes
All proposals to be prepared on the basis that they provide inclusive and accessible travel options for all users and take account of relevant national and local design standards – for example, walking and cycling.
EEH Policy No. P5: In identifying future investment requirements [for the region], we will prioritise proposals based on value for money, their contribution towards achieving net zero carbon targets, and their contribution to wider sustainability, environmental net gains and health outcomes.
2.3 Local policy
2050 Vision
2.3.1 In February 2019, Central Bedfordshire Council published its 2050 Vision, as a result of extensive collaboration with stakeholders and residents. The purpose of this vision is to guide future strategy, policy developments and investment decisions by the Council and its partners.
2.3.2 The document envisages Central Bedfordshire as a desirable place to live and work. It describes a place easy to get around with rural centres and towns linked by clean efficient transport modes and improved digital infrastructure allowing everyone to feel connected.
Local Plan
2.3.3 In July 2021 the Council's Local Plan 2015- 2035 was adopted, setting out how the area is to develop in the period up to 2035. The plan addresses future needs and opportunities in relation to infrastructure, homes, jobs and businesses, community facilities and the environment. It establishes clear principles and sound policies for all future development including the allocation of land for development.
2.3.4 Two of the Local Plan's strategic objectives are of direct relevance to this Strategy:
Policy T9: Reduce the reliance on the use of the car by improving facilities at bus and train stations, delivering transport interchanges and by promoting safe and sustainable forms of transport, such as improved walking and cycling routes.
Policy T11: Promote healthier and more active lifestyles by improving the quality of, and accessibility to, the area's open spaces, as areas for sports, recreation, visual interest, biodiversity, education, health, and wellbeing.
Sustainability Plan
2.3.5 The Council's Sustainability Plan was adopted in September 2020 and refreshed in 2024. The plan sets out the actions the Council will take to achieve carbon neutrality within its own operations by 2030. Greater active travel is an integral element with the overarching objective to ... " reduce car-based trips and transport emissions relating to local journeys, with health and wellbeing, road safety and capacity and air quality benefits."
Health and Wellbeing Strategy
2.3.6 Central Bedfordshire's Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2018-2023 sets out a vision where the health and wellbeing of residents is improved, and inequalities are reduced, both now and for future generations. The strategy features three priorities:
- Driving change to improve mental health and wellbeing for people of all ages
- Enabling people to optimise their own and their family's health and wellbeing
- Ensuring that growth delivers improvements in health and wellbeing for current and future residents.
Active Travel will play a part in delivering each priority through the benefits of adopting a heathier lifestyle.
Physical Activity Strategy
2.3.7 The Council's Physical Activity Strategy covers the period to 2026 and details the approach to addressing levels of inactivity and contribution to the Council's Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The vision is:
"…to make Central Bedfordshire a place where all residents can lead active lives, every day".
The strategy sets out six priorities to increase levels of physical activity, by building physical activity into everyday life which includes supporting opportunities for active travel.
Asset Management Strategy and Network Maintenance Management Plan
2.3.8 The authority maintains around 1,000 kilometres of footways adjacent to roads and 1,450 kilometres of footpaths separate from roads, of which 1,300 kilometres are part of the public rights of way network.
2.3.9 Most surfaced footways and footpaths have an operating life of around 50 years before they need resurfacing, although this period will be shorter should they be damaged by water ingress, tree roots, utility excavations and vehicle overrun or parking.
2.3.10 Based on inspections and condition assessments, the authority compiles a rolling programme of structural maintenance schemes. Footways and footpaths considered the most in need of attention are prioritised for repair. Resurfacing schemes provide an opportunity to address issues such as missing dropped kerbs and tactile paving.
2.3.11 The overall approach to managing the highway is set out in the Council's Highway Asset Management Strategy. The frequency in which footways and footpaths are inspected is set out in the authority's Network Maintenance Management Plan.
