BA welcomes announcement of Active Travel England

The Bicycle Association welcomes the Government’s announcement of a new executive agency, Active Travel England, to support development of high quality infrastructure for cycling.

The Government announcement notes that Active Travel England “will be responsible for driving up the standards of cycling and walking infrastructure and managing the national active travel budget, awarding funding for projects that improve both health and air quality.”

Steve Garidis, Executive Director of the Bicycle Association, said:

The UK cycle industry has long recognised the huge potential for cycling, walking and wheeling to deliver safe, healthy and enjoyable journeys and to make a very significant contribution to a decarbonised, efficient economy by tackling congestion, CO₂ and air quality issues.

A key factor in achieving cycling’s full potential is the installation of a cohesive network of high quality, safe cycling infrastructure – both within cities and between centres of population.

So we are delighted that Active Travel England has been formed to assist local authorities in the delivery of consistently high quality infrastructure, and that Chris Boardman has been selected as its interim Chair.

The Bicycle Association looks forward to engaging with Active Travel England at the earliest opportunity to offer the full support of the UK cycle industry.

As well as the wider benefits, high quality local cycling infrastructure investment offers a substantial economic return, and this is the focus of the BA’s work to leverage our unique Market Data Service to quantify the Local Bicycle Economy benefits of growing cycling. Thousands of companies across the UK cycle industry support these initiatives through the Investors in Cycling programme.

The formation of Active Travel England promises to make these investment arguments even more effective, and the BA welcomes its announcement as a major step towards realising signifcant growth of cycling.