Getting England walking and cycling – MPs question Active Travel England
The Transport Committee will question senior officials from Active Travel England (ATE) about the Government’s plans to promote cycling and walking.
Meeting details
Linked to the Department for Transport, ATE provides capital funding and advice to local authorities for designing and building active travel infrastructure.
It promotes active lifestyles and low-carbon forms of transport, including pedal-cycles, e-cycles, adapted cycles and push-scooters, as well as wheelchairs and mobility scooters used by people with accessibility needs.
It is also a legal requirement for ATE to be consulted when plans are drawn up for new large housing projects.
In this session, MPs will question how ATE can help the Government and councils most effectively spend £3.2bn budgeted for active travel improvements across the country by 2030.
The cross-party Committee will question how concerns about safety and other barriers to active travel can be overcome, as well as how ATE could help improve negative perceptions of initiatives such as low-traffic neighbourhoods, cycle lanes and other interventions.
There will be questions about how active travel can be promoted among women, disabled people and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
Witnesses may also be asked about examples of active travel innovations such as ‘mini Holland’ roundabouts, the national e-cycles support scheme, and about active travel social prescribing pilots, where GPs will be able to issue prescriptions that help patients take up walking, wheeling and cycling.