Daring to dream: Making Greater Manchester a walking and cycling region

Protected cycle lanes provide the safe environment people want in order to cycle

Last week Chris Boardman, Walking and Cycling Commissioner for Greater Manchester, released his Made to Move strategy to make Greater Manchester a world class region for walking and cycling. The strategy calls for £1.5bn over the next decade to provide 700 miles of safe, high-quality bike lanes alongside significant improvements to the walking environment.

We have been working closely with Chris and his team, through Bike Life, to share our data and therefore give him the public mandate he requires to think big and be ambitious. Bike Life in 2017 found that 69% of people living in Greater Manchester thought their region would be a better place to live and work if more people cycled, and 76% would like to see more money spent on cycling.

The level of ambition for investment in Made to Move has never been seen before in the UK, especially at a regional level – with the words ‘cycling and walking’ placed next to the word ‘billions’ as opposed to merely ‘millions’.

The proposed £1.5bn over 10 years translates to approximately £53 per head (ph) each year (not accounting for population growth). To put this figure into context, consider that London, currently the highest investing city is spending £17ph and Scotland is doubling funding to around £15ph from 2018. Many other cities and regions struggle to reach even £5-10ph, with funding in many English cities about to decline even further.

The level of funding Chris is talking about has the potential to transform Greater Manchester into a world leading city for walking and cycling. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has publically backed the strategy and is already seeking to create a challenge fund for walking and cycling of around £50m each year from 2019 to 2021.

With this scale of ambition, the big question is, is it a pipedream, or is this figure achievable and a wise investment for Greater Manchester’s future?

Firstly, does the money exist?

Whilst funding for walking and cycling has been reducing in many areas of the UK, the level of investment going into infrastructure for transport has not. For example, in England, the Road Investment Strategy (RIS 1) allocates £15bn into widening, extending and improving England’s strategic road network.

RIS 2, currently being consulted on, is likely to increase this figure even further. On rail HS2’s first phase from London to Birmingham is set to currently cost £48bn, a cost of £403m per mile of track, putting it as the most expensive railway ever build in the world. Funding clearly exists although little of it is currently reaching local transport including cycling and walking.

Secondly, is it a wise investment?

Cities are limited by space, meaning we cannot build our way out of congestion. Cars are an inefficient use of the urban space and evidence demonstrates more people walking, cycling or using public transport is the most efficient way to keep our cities moving. Investment in walking and cycling in Greater Manchester will support this.

This is especially the case for cycling which currently has an untapped potential and suits the scale of most cities in the UK.

Cycling can help our streets transport up to five times more people than if these journeys were taken by car. In Greater Manchester 74% of journeys between two and five km in length are made by car, a distance most people could cycle in less than 20 minutes if our streets were safe enough to do so.

Therefore investing in cycling and walking makes perfect sense. According to the DfT investing £1.5bn in walking and cycling will give a public return of at least £8.3bn for Greater Manchester.

This investment will also help to:

• reduce many of the 2,000 early deaths in the region associated with air pollution,
• increase physical activity and associated health benefits amongst the 50% of residents in Greater Manchester who are currently physically inactive, and
• create a safer walking and cycling network - currently 600 people are killed or seriously injured on the region’s roads.

Bike Life in 2017 showed people in Greater Manchester and cities across the UK understand that more cars equals more traffic and more congestion. Bike Life also showed that people living in cities understand the potential for walking and cycling to improve air quality and health and make our cities more attractive. They understand that investment in cycling is a good investment.

Scaling up ambition and investment for walking and cycling

If local and national governments in the UK follow the evidence, there are multiple clear and compelling arguments to scale up investment in walking and cycling. Instead we largely continue to fund more roads that will choke our cities even further with little benefit for anyone.

Organisations working to improve walking and cycling shouldn’t be afraid to be ambitious. We shouldn’t be afraid to call for investment for walking and cycling in terms of billions, even at a regional level. We know the funding is out there, we know the business case validates this, and most importantly we know the public support it.

Whilst it’s early days it’s exciting to see Greater Manchester stepping up a gear in ambition and daring to dream. This could, in time, provide a blueprint for all cities in the UK.

Read the blog: Chris Boardman can be confident that the people of Greater Manchester support his plan

Explore the findings of Bike Life Greater Manchester

• Air Quality
• Bike Life
• Cycling in cities
• Policy

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Empowering communities through Street Design

DG1 Neighbours accepting grant from Sustrans after becoming a constituted community group.

When thinking about improving neighbourhoods, an often overlooked but vital element in the design process is involving those who live, work and travel through an area.

Liveable neighbourhoods are about more than just place and movement. First and foremost, they’re about people. If we want to ensure the success of walking and cycling projects, we must ensure the views, knowledge and experience local people have to offer is at the forefront of discussions.

Involving communities at the beginning of a design process right through to completion, ensures projects have a lasting legacy in the local area as it empowers those who live there to take ownership of the project long into the future.

Creating Liveable Neighbourhoods in Scotland

Our Scotland Street Design projects empower communities to change the physical quality of the places and spaces they live in, through extensive engagement to encourage buy-in to the projects right from the start. They are high impact and have been proven to deliver increased levels of active travel in neighbourhoods.

This is because we:

• Inform and listen to communities.
• Involve stakeholders using interactive engagement methods.
• Consult through a design iteration process.
• Empower through designs that people can take ownership of and make people proud.

Our work in Dumfries

Since 2013, we have been working in partnership with Dumfries and Galloway Council, residents and businesses to transform a once neglected part of Dumfries into a more liveable, inclusive and active travel-friendly neighbourhood. 

This exemplar project embodies the key principles of supporting community aspirations, leadership and promoting active travel outlined in Designing Streets, the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act (2015) and the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland.

We designed an engagement programme that worked directly with people to create a more active travel-friendly neighbourhood by reducing vehicle speeds and improving place quality.

This was done by running a series events that brought people together to strengthen their sense of social connection and empowerment. Through these, we were able to identify local aspirations to reinforce the Victorian Heritage of the area and early interventions which could improve the sense of security and reinforce the place identity such as upgrading the street lighting upgrades make making new street nameplates.

Securing a project legacy

A priority of the project was to support and enable the community to develop their own solutions to the problems they raised through on-street events, design workshops and street trials.

As a result, the residents have come together to form a constituted community group, meaning they are now able to access funding and grants to help maintain the improvements to their local area. To mark the occasion, the group have been awarded a £1,000 grant by Sustrans to help kick-start works.

By becoming officially recognised as a constituted group, residents have ensured that the legacy of the Neighbourhood Street Design Project will continue long into the future.

Watch this short film to find out how the project has impacted local residents:

Street Design Application 2018/19

To help more organisations and local authorities access our Street Design team as a resource to improve local neighbourhoods and communities, we are setting up a formal application process for 2018/19.

Interested organisations will be able to submit a proposal for a Street Design project in their area through our online grant application portal.

The portal will open for applications on the 22nd January 2018.

Find out more about Street Design in Scotland

• Communities
• Liveable cities

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Chris Boardman can be confident that the people of Greater Manchester support his plan

Chris Boardman’s will be key part of plans to improve the region’s air quality and crippling congestion problem

Today Chris Boardman, Greater Manchester’s Cycling & Walking Commissioner, launched his 15-Point Plan to get the city region moving. Made to Move is a bold and exciting vision which echoes what people want, including calls for a ring-fenced, ten year £1.5 billion infrastructure fund.

As an ex-Olympian Mr Boardman is used to setting ambitious goals, and achieving them. His new plan, which will start in 2018, will be key part of plans to improve the region’s air quality and crippling congestion problem. It includes a detailed infrastructure plan, for over 700 miles of main corridor cycle routes throughout the region, linking to future public realm and infrastructure projects. His team would work with schools, industry and local communities, to get buy in at every level.

At a time of challenging budgets it will be reassuring for Mr Boardman that Mancunians are not quite as in love with cars as the local media and a vocal minority would have us believe. He can be confident that the investment needed to implement his plan is fully supported by the people of Greater Manchester. At the launch of Made to Move, he quoted the results of our Bike Life 2017 report in partnership with Transport for Greater Manchester, which found that over three quarters of residents in the city region supported more investment in cycling.

The report, which is the biggest assesment of cycling in seven major UK cities, includes a random survey of 1,100 residents throughout Greater Manchester, 77% of whom said they supported building more roadside cycle lanes, even if they took more space away from cars. Unsurprisingly, safety was the single biggest factor which people said put them off cycling, with 65% of people saying they would cycle more if there were protected roadside cycle lanes and 76% supporting more investment in cycle infrastructure.

We know from our work in London that consistent long term investment in cycling infrastructure, alongside work with communities, businesses and schools, is the only approach which gets large numbers of people out of cars. This will undoubtedly involve some controversial decisions, including taking space away from road vehicles.

As the home of the Industrial Revolution Greater Manchester is no stranger to innovation, and this exciting new plan will help create the smart, eco-friendly city that will attract the next wave of investment. When the temperature rises and angry rhetoric appears in the letters pages of the local media, Mr Boardman knows he has the support of the people of Greater Manchester. This is another Olympic race for success and we will support him to deliver this bold plan.

Find out more about our Bike Life Report in Greater Manchester 

• Cycling
• Leadership
• Liveable cities
• Policy
• Walking

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Cycling and walking equals better air quality

The cycling and walking air quality equation seems simple. But look under the surface, and applying the principle of increasing cycling and walking whilst simultaneously reducing motorised transport is a complex problem spanning different geographies.

An inconvenient truth

We have all seen the headlines by now. Air pollution in the UK is a serious problem. A problem that shortens lives and reduces the lung capacity of children. A problem in which motorised transport is one of the greatest contributors.
The inconvenient truth is: the only way we will seriously tackle air pollution is when we have fewer motorised vehicles on the road.

The even more inconvenient truth is that: technology alone won’t fix this. As much as 45% of Particulate Matter is caused by tyre and brake wear and so even if we move to zero-emission vehicles we will not solve our air pollution crisis.

This is where cycling and walking come in. If we can reduce motor traffic by encouraging more people in our towns and cities to walk and cycle for short everyday journeys, we can have a large impact on our air quality.

Our latest research shows that achieving the ambitions of England’s Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy and Scotland’s Cycling Action Plan would result in nearly £10 billion in benefits to the public purse over 10 years. However, there are many reasons why implementing networks of cycling and walking routes alongside traffic restraint can be difficult in practice.

Sustrans held a roundtable, chaired by Chris Boardman MBE, with local authorities from across England to discuss some of the barriers to tackling air pollution through implementing cycling and walking alongside traffic restraint schemes, and how these barriers might be overcome. Here are a few the key findings. 

Old chestnuts

Whilst there was some interesting new insight from the people around the table, it would be remiss not to mention what has always been a barrier to creating more walking and cycling routes and is no different in the case of solving air pollution: economic barriers. A lack of funding for cycling and walking schemes or stop-start funding makes it hard for local authorities to commit to building cycling and walking routes.

This is one of the reasons we need proper funding to roll out cycling and walking infrastructure plans and have them linked to Clean Air Plans.

Secondly, political cycles do not help. Most political cycles are under five years and infrastructure can take many years from inception to completion. So even if you get a leader who is passionate about cycling and walking, projects can be undone by a new leader with no interest in the agenda.

Unintended consequences

Five towns and cities in England have been mandated to produce Clean Air Zones (CAZ) but one issue that was identified is in guidance from UK Government which produces unintended consequences through poor framing. For example, if UK Government suggest to a city that they should have a category of CAZ that restricts access of the most polluting buses and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) to a city centre – the local authority will automatically start looking at electrification of bus fleets and other measures within that framing. It also then requires a local leader to stick their neck out and lead to say they will go one step further to include private motorised vehicles which is harder to do than showing national leadership from Government.

If the UK Government promoted and pushed for all the cities to have CAZs that included restrictions to private motorised vehicles, it broadens the framing and enables local authorities to more naturally think about the need for modal shift from cars to walking and cycling.

Another unintended consequence is from Highways England. Highways England have a designated fund for tackling air pollution but many local authorities have not been able to work with them to utilise the fund as they require investment on day one and an immediate improvement in air quality on day two. The reality is many implementations to improve air quality, including cycling and walking networks, take time to lower levels of pollution – that needs to be established and publicised.

Joining things up

Equally, cycling and walking schemes tend to be funded separately from road schemes that are planned over longer time periods. This can make it difficult to add cycling networks onto main corridors of roads and is not integrated.

Solutions

It is clear we need more leadership from all levels of government and the political will to create the right environments locally to invest in walking and cycling to help tackle air pollution. One issue that was raised a lot in our roundtable discussion was that air pollution is invisible.

Most people forget that it is there and are unaware of how much it affects their health on a daily basis We clearly need a sustained campaign to raise awareness of the health impacts of air pollution at the individual level, bringing the public on board and creating further political pressure to see the change needed to help improve the air we breathe.

This is just a taster from the roundtable. If you would like to see more, look out for our short report from the round table in the new year.

Our work on air quality

• Air Quality
• Economy
• Policy

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Communities key to transforming neighbourhoods

The Octagon in Westport, Ireland. Westport’s urban realm was transformed nearly 20 years ago, leading to it being voted ‘Best Place to Live in Ireland’ in 2012.

Scotland’s Towns Week took place last month and considering that 60% of the population of Scotland lives in settlements of more than 15,000 people, there was a lot that is relevant for a majority of Scots. 

Run by Scotland’s Towns Partnership (STP) the week comprised of a series of events in towns across Scotland. As a supporter of STP we had a presence at Scotland’s Towns Conference in Paisley and at the Academy of Urbanism’s ‘There goes the Neighbourhood’ summit in Dundee.

Creating towns for people

One thing which particularly struck me throughout the talks at these events were that while many town centres and neighbourhoods are suffering from the effects of austerity and population shrinkage, others have found a way to create successful and attractive places in which people want to spend time and move through.

It’s not stating the obvious to say that towns that make it easy and enjoyable for people to walk, cycle, work and play in are the ones which are the most vibrant and successful. 

It is clear that it has become more important than ever to create places that people want go to, meet and stay in.

Getting people out and about

The key question is, what’s behind the success?

At the conference in Paisley, Simon Wall, Town Architect for Westport in County Mayo, delivered an inspirational talk on how nearly 20 years ago, a small, slightly rundown town in an economically disadvantaged part of Ireland developed a town Masterplan which provided the starting point for the transformation of the urban realm. 

The plan reduced car dominance in the market town, reversed housing trends and attracted people to live in the centre. It encouraged local business with shops and cafes and created a sense of civic pride that led the town to being voted ‘Best Place to Live in Ireland’ in 2012.

As one of Ireland’s ‘Smarter Travel Demonstration Towns’, Westport linked 70% of its residential areas with dedicated urban greenways, independent of vehicular circulation, creating a tapestry town of walking and cycling routes.

This network is connected to the new 45km Great Western Greenway, which travels north linking Westport to a number of other towns along the Atlantic coastline, on the route of a disused Victorian railway line. Local schools were provided with bike parking facilities and encouraged to use the Greenway and other local routes resulting in a move from just over 1% cycling and walking to school up to 15% in schools located on the greenway.

Simon spoke about the importance of encouraging engagement and support from the community, he said it was absolutely critical to the success of this master plan.  

In particular, one comment from Simon stood out to me: “Day to day, I spend 5% of my time at the desk and the drawing board. The other 95% of the time is talking to people and listening to people”. 

He showed how something simple, like taking out a single car parking space, can benefit a town by providing a space for a semi mature tree, an artisan street vendor, a young family and their buggy, all enjoying the scene, neatly fitting into a 4.8m – 2.4m area. 

Delivering a personal experience

The conference brought me back to the realities faced by many small towns. I spoke to a retail consultant who had been dealing with small retail businesses in Scotland for the last five years where a recent survey he had conducted revealed that 50% of the businesses surveyed were not actually viable. In other words, they were being kept open by owners not taking a salary, or working another job. 

His conclusion is that while in the past, the best retail outlets were defined by the range of products on offer, now, the key to success is through offering the experience, knowledge and expertise that can only be conveyed through personal contact. 

Transforming Neighbourhoods

At the Neighbourhood Summit in Dundee, the question of ‘how to create neighbourhoods’ was raised. Sustrans Scotland Senior Engineer Rowena Colpitts told the story of the Neighbourhood Street Design project in Dumfries and how the community came together to improve a neglected neighbourhood and in the process how lasting friendships were forged. “I now know who I can borrow a cup of sugar from” commented one resident. 

My conclusion can be summarised in five words: ‘Get People out and about”. It can be expanded slightly to say ‘if you create places, neighbourhoods, town centres that are pleasant for people to walk, browse, cycle, play, enjoy arts, or to simply be in, the amenities will follow. Businesses will reopen, the connections will be made, communities will be solidified and joy will return.“  

Find out more about our Street Design project and the work we do in Scotland to improve neighbourhoods, communities and urban areas

• Communities
• Liveable cities

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Suffering from exposure?

Active travellers are in an environment with a lower pollution concentration than those inside a car, bus or taxi

Tanzir Chowdhury, Economist at Eunomia Research & Consulting Ltd, worked on the Air Quality Benefits of Active Travel report, constructing a model to enable the quantification of the potential contribution of walking and cycling in the context of air quality. In this blog, he explains the model and what the findings mean for policymakers.

If more of us walked and cycled instead of driving short distances, there would be less pollution and we would all be better off. That sort of benefit is well-captured in the types of analyses that have long been used to understand the costs and benefits of transport policies.

But what if we want to understand the impact an individuals’ choice of transport method has on their own health?

Model questions

There are two well-established ways of modelling the benefits of changes in transport policy that result in more active travel and fewer car journeys:

1. Damage cost models look at the emissions resulting from a journey and place a financial value on them – great for showing the overall societal benefit of emissions reduction.
2. Impact pathway analysis allows for more sophisticated modelling of the impact of pollutants released in a specific location.

However, both approaches have significant limitations. Neither damage costs or impact pathway analysis approach gives any insight into who in society benefits or loses out from the policy change.

A very different kind of model is needed in order to understand the different impacts of an air quality policy on someone travelling in a car compared with someone cycling or walking; or to understand how much difference there is between cycling on a busy road alongside cars and using a traffic-free cycle path. Let’s call this the ‘personal exposure’ to air pollution of the various types of people affected.

Concentration span

Eunomia in partnership with Sustrans has developed a model to evaluate the air pollution impacts of Sustrans’ activities to encourage more active travel, which is explained in a recently published report. The model estimates air pollution benefits for switching from a non-active travel mode to active travel, by calculating the ‘personal exposure’ of a traveller to different air pollutants depending on how they choose to travel. Personal exposure to air pollutants depends mainly on two factors: pollution concentration and inhalation rate.

Let’s take a look at what those concepts mean.

‘Pollution concentration’ is the amount of pollution in the micro environment an individual is in (e.g. inside a car, on a bicycle on a busy road, cycling on a traffic-free cycle path). According to research carried out in London, it turns out that cycling along a busy road puts you in a more polluted environment compared to walking adjacent to the road, because of your position relative to the highest concentrations of pollution being generated by the traffic.

Once you get away from the main roads, your exposure to pollution becomes two thirds less.

However, in all cases, active travellers are in an environment with a lower pollution concentration than those inside a car, bus or taxi, as shown in the table below:

Travel Mode	Average Exposure (µg/m3)
Bus	34.5
Car	38.0
Taxi	41.5
Walk	27.5
Cycle (busy road)	33.5
Urban Background Site (equivalent to cycling away from busy roads)	9.9

The lung story

However, that is only half the story. It is also important to understand the volume or air (and consequently the pollutants in the air) a person is breathing in every minute – which of course depends on the activity the person is undertaking. This is the individual’s ‘inhalation rate. Here, research indicates that the active traveller on a bicycle takes in about twice as much air as someone travelling in a car or bus, shown below:

Travel Mode	Inhalation Rate (litre/min)
Cyclist	23.50
Car Passenger	11.80
Bus Passenger	12.70

By combining the pollution concentration with the inhalation rate we can understand the individual’s personal exposure to pollution in the course of their journey. Overall, the personal exposure of someone cycling on a busy main road will be greater than that of someone driving along the same street – mainly because the cyclist will be breathing in a lot more air. However, a person cycling or walking on a traffic-free cycle path will be far better off than the driver.

Of course, exposure to pollution is not the only relevant factor – the active traveller also experiences health benefits associated with the greater level of exercise involved in their journey. The benefits of physical activity derived from walking and cycling always outweigh any exposure to air pollution in the UK. By switching to cycling on a traffic-free cycle path – whether as a change from main road cycling, or from driving – one can both reduce the personal exposure to different air pollutants and receive positive health benefits.

The right move

Getting more people on bikes is one of the best ways to reduce road traffic. This analysis is potentially useful both to individuals deciding how to travel and to policymakers looking at how to maximise the benefits of a switch to more active transport as they seek to include walking and cycling into clean air plans.

Where people have little choice but to cycle or walk along main roads, they will be helping to reduce overall pollution but risk increasing their own personal exposure. Although the impact of that exposure will be more than offset by the health benefits of active travel, it could put some people off, delaying the rate at which the switch to active travel occurs.

If we are to make a major modal shift to active travel, the greatest benefits will be achieved by providing easy access to a network of quieter routes across the UK, in addition to protected cycle routes on roads. By making use of traffic-free paths and back quiet streets where they are available, individuals can minimise their personal exposure to air pollutants and maximise the health benefits.

By integrating the lessons of personal exposure modelling of air quality impacts into local air quality plans, policymakers and urban planners can help organisations like Sustrans put out a clear, simple message: active travel is good for you, and good for those around you. 

Find out more about the Sustrans-Eunomia Model: Calculating the Air Quality Benefits of Active Travel

• Air Quality
• Cycling in cities
• Economy
• Health
• Policy

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Rotherhithe to Canary Wharf bridge consultation: How you can help bridge the gap

We support a navigable bridge – the best option to unlock walking and cycling across the river - easy to access, free to use 24 hours a day, free of exhaust fumes and in the open air

Image credit: TfL

A third of London’s growth to 2030 is set to happen beyond Tower Bridge in the east

Transport for London wants to know what you think of the Bike Bridge – the proposed new river crossing between Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf. Here’s why we think Londoners should support the bike bridge and how we will respond to the consultation.

If you draw a circle around London following the M25 and follow the Thames eastward, you’ll find 34 different bridges that cross the Thames connecting communities, homes and jobs across the river. But venture out beyond Tower Bridge and there’s only one bridge.

This isn’t just a physical gap, but a gap between the cheap, clean and easy journeys Londoners want and the journeys they have. A gap between the homes London is building and the jobs it’s creating. A gap between the lethal and illegal air we have and the clean air we want. A gap we think the Mayor should bridge.

From our feasibility study, we know a bridge would unlock thousands of journeys by foot and bike every day, adding up to millions of active commutes each year. Already there are 7.2 million daily journeys made by foot or by cycle in London. Over the past year alone, cycling levels have grown from 670,000 to 730,000 journeys everyday.

This bridge would be the gateway to quick, easy and healthy journeys for thousands more Londoners, helping to clean London’s air, improve our health and make journeys across the river faster, safer and easier for generations to come.

East London needs a walking and cycling bridge 

A Rotherhithe to Canary Wharf bridge will connect the places where people work to the places they live. Already the bridges that connect homes to jobs are London’s busiest with 8,400 people cycling across Blackfriars Bridge at peak times.  

Bridging the gap between homes and jobs in East London would be no different to the bridges in the centre of London, except it would be free of traffic, free of exhaust fumes and accessible to all. To make that journey today is a choice between a fume-filled traffic tunnel, a pricey ferry or a narrow and busy foot tunnel.

Bridging the gap will help manage the capital’s growth 

A third of London’s growth to 2030 is set to happen beyond Tower Bridge in the east. This includes the number of jobs on the Isle of Dogs being doubled (it’s worth taking a moment to contemplate that - the equivalent of cloning all the buildings around Canary Wharf and filling them with the same number of people every day). On the other side of the river is a cluster of Southwark’s major growth areas. Closest is Canada Water, which is set to deliver over 6,000 new homes. All this serves to increase pressures on the already crowded Jubilee Line. At peak times four people squeeze into every square metre of train carriage.

Connecting these two places with a beautiful bridge will ensure East London can handle this growth.

Private funding for public benefit 

The growth in east London is also how the bridge can be funded. New transport connectivity can increase the value of land, and a land value uplift levy can help to pay for the bridge just as it does with Crossrail today. We want to see private investment to help build the bridge.

What’s more, quicker, easier and healthier commutes benefit London’s economy. By slashing journey times across the river, our study estimated the value of saved time to London’s economy at £10 million per year, and that’s without counting the major health benefits of the extra exercise from cycling or walking a few extra minutes every day can bring.

When the financial crisis hit in 2008, this project was kicked into the long grass. We now have the opportunity to connect east London with the clean and green transport we need for generations to come.

Our position: four key points 

We have outlined our key points below and invite anyone wishing to respond to the consultation to make use of our position.

What we think on the Rotherhithe to Canary Wharf Crossing consultation: 

1. We support a navigable bridge
2. We support the central or northern alignments
3. We believe a lower crossing is preferable for walking and cycling
4. We believe the bridge’s success depends on high quality cycling routes

Navigable bridge 

We support a navigable bridge – the best option to unlock walking and cycling across the river, easiest to access, free to use 24 hours a day, free of exhaust fumes and in the open air.

Central or northern alignments 

We support a ‘central or northern alignment’ – we know a bridge can’t be on a bend in the river because of turning ships, which limits the options. There are three locations presented in the consultation. Westferry Circus is on higher ground than other landing options, which would mean shorter, easier access ramps on one side –potentially a quicker more convenient option.

Lower crossing preferable 

Landing on the Impound Lock was the only preferred option in our study as it was the only option which met the Port of London Authority’s needs for river traffic, has the necessary space, and is as close as possible to the optimum crossing points. Further south at West India Dock (Cuba Street) would require lifts, adding time to journeys, crowding at peak times and ultimately reduces the number of people that would use the crossing.

We believe a lower crossing that doesn’t open too often is achievable – the lower the bridge, the easier to access, cycle and walk across. We believe river navigation can become more efficient, reducing the amount of times the bridge would need to open to let ships pass. Support for a lower bridge will give TfL a clear mandate to negotiate on this with the Port of London Authority.

Sucess dependent on high quality cycling routes 

The bridge’s success depends upon high-quality cycling routes linking it to Cycle Superhighway 4 in the south, Cycle Superhighway 3 in the north, and the wider network.

Consultation closes Monday 8 January 2018: Respond now

• Communities
• Commuting
• Cycling
• Cycling in cities
• Economy
• Walking
• Workplaces

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Running Tracks Repair in Coleraine | Athletics Track Repairs...

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Running Track Design in Armagh | Athletics Track Specifications...

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Running Track Resurfacing in Flintshire #Running #Track...

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— Running Tracks UK (@ukrunningtracks) December 6, 2017

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Running Tracks Surfacing in Sandhutton #Athletics #Sports...

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— Running Tracks UK (@ukrunningtracks) December 5, 2017

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Running Track Maintenance in Temple Cowley #Running #Track...

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— Running Tracks UK (@ukrunningtracks) December 5, 2017

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Running Tracks Surfacing in Endon Bank #Athletics #Sports...

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Running Tracks Cleaning in Boxgrove | Athletics Track Cleaning...

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Running Tracks Cleaning in Powys | Athletics Track Cleaning...

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— Running Tracks UK (@ukrunningtracks) December 4, 2017

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Running Tracks Repair in Cumbria | Athletics Track Repairs...

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— Running Tracks UK (@ukrunningtracks) December 4, 2017

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Running Track Design in Newport | Athletics Track Specifications...

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— Running Tracks UK (@ukrunningtracks) December 4, 2017

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The air quality benefits of walking and cycling

Walking and cycling have a huge role to play in addressing the challenges of air quality

We all know walking and cycling improves air quality by removing vehicles from the road and replacing those trips with a mode that is also good for our health.

But what is the exact impact of walking and cycling on air quality? Is it measurable?

For the first time we are able to reveal the extent of the exposure to air pollution on individuals, and the implications of poor air quality.

The current system

There is a fundamental flaw in the way that the air quality implications of transport schemes are assessed at present. When a scheme is evaluated, the ‘traditional’ approach simply assigns a value to units of dirty emissions.
Using transport appraisal mechanisms, we would estimate amounts of emissions from motor vehicles, and assign a standard ‘damage cost’ monetary value to them.

Notwithstanding the issue of motor manufacturers concealing the true volume of emissions, this is still a crude approximation of real extent of impact. The damage costs for PM10 and NOx are standard values developed by Defra over many years.

They are useful for high-level policy appraisals where the key metric is an estimated reduction in the tonnage of a given pollutant. However, this approach conceals the extent of impact on people who move through the environments where these emissions happen.

A new approach

Sustrans wanted to move beyond assessing the value of potential ‘dirty emissions’ and be able to quantify their real-world impact. We wanted to be able to explore the direct, personal implications of dirty air on people, as a means of making a better case for investment in walking and cycling to help to address air quality.

Working with Eunomia we set out to model the implications of poor air quality on people.

We have built a model that uses data on the distribution of air pollution in the local environment and data on the extent of exposure through duration of trips and respiratory rates to generate outputs that quantify the extent of the personal exposure problem.

Calculating the impact of walking and cycling

The intention behind our model was to explore how much walking and cycling can help clean the air, thus providing an assessment of potential benefits. The results were very promising: The value of increasing active travel can be considerable, where certain criteria are fulfilled.

The model clearly shows us the value of increasing the number of people travelling by active modes (particularly when larger parts of that active travel are regular trips that have changed from more polluting alternatives), and of separating active travellers from the worst pollution hotspots, in addition to achieving reductions in emissions.

However, it also shows us that while the value of air pollution benefits that walking and cycling can help to realise are large, they are still only a small part of the overall net benefit associated with walking and cycling.

The benefits to health from increased physical activity are huge, and there is a wide range of other benefits too.

Wider policy context

Air pollution may become ‘more expensive’ – for example, if the threatened fines for air quality incursions are levied; if the social distribution effect of poor air is properly reflected in values; or if businesses start to recognise the impact of poor air on their staff.

European monitoring of air quality may be a step in the right direction- we are taking the measurement of air pollution seriously, but we still need solutions for dealing with it.

Walking and cycling have a huge role to play in addressing the challenges of air quality, and in ‘future-proofing’ against future costs. Plans to reduce polluting emissions from transport must include plans for effective investment in walking and cycling.

Find out more about our air quality model

• Air Quality
• Policy

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Running Track Maintenance in Glasgow City #Running #Track...

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— Running Tracks UK (@ukrunningtracks) December 1, 2017

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Running Tracks Cleaning in Cefn Rhigos | Athletics Track...

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— Running Tracks UK (@ukrunningtracks) December 1, 2017

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Running Tracks Repair in Cromwell Bottom | Athletics Track...

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— Running Tracks UK (@ukrunningtracks) December 1, 2017

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Running Track Design in Carmarthenshire | Athletics Track...

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— Running Tracks UK (@ukrunningtracks) December 1, 2017

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Running Track Contractors in Suffolk | Athletics Track...

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— Running Tracks UK (@ukrunningtracks) December 1, 2017

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