Active Travel and Social Justice

Call for evidence

Introduction

The individual and societal benefits of active travel are both very large and well-evidenced.  More people travelling actively is an effective response to a host of major challenges, from our public health crisis to climate change, and it is widely accepted that major growth in active travel is essential to the UK’s response to all of these.

It is therefore of great concern that many people in the UK do not enjoy access to (all) the benefits of active travel.  Some are physically excluded: much cycling infrastructure does not accommodate adapted cycles, for example, and the condition of footways and lack of dropped kerbs can make travel for wheelchair users uncomfortable at best but often impossible.  Many are financially excluded: the costs of cycling (purchase, maintenance and storage) can be prohibitive for those on low incomes.  And social and cultural barriers can make active travel unappealing for many more: cycling may not be “something that people like us do”; many members of minoritised communities may perceive local environments as too hostile for walking.  Very often, factors interact: there are strong correlations between poverty and disability, for example, such that certain people face double exclusion.

In addition, lack of adequate policy to accommodate active travel, including poor or unevenly distributed infrastructure, high levels of motorised traffic and high speeds (with associated externalities, including air pollution and road danger), means that, for example, people living in areas with high levels of deprivation face a higher risk of road injury whilst travelling actively than their wealthier counterparts, and air quality and walking and cycling environments are often poorer in areas that have large minoritised populations.

The All Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling & Walking (APPGCW) is responding to these issues through this inquiry into active travel and social justice.  In addition to a hearing at which invited experts will give oral evidence, the APPGCW invites interested experts to submit written evidence to inform its deliberations.

Questions

We set out below a set of questions on which we would welcome written submissions.  You are invited to address as many or as few as you wish.  Please do not feel limited by these questions: we welcome all submissions that address the theme of this inquiry.

Please note that we are interpreting the concept of social justice widely, embracing all the protected characteristics as established in the Equality Act 2010[1] as well as socio-economic status and residential setting (urban, rural etc).  You are welcome to make the case for considering other attributes.

  • Who is currently prevented from enjoying the full benefits of active travel and why?
  • In what ways are people travelling actively affected unevenly by poor provision and/or the negative consequences of motorised travel, and why?
  • Which initiatives (in the UK and abroad) aimed specifically at widening participation in active travel are having the greatest positive impacts? How are they achieving this?
  • Which initiatives working to address transport exclusion (but not specifically active travel) have most to teach the active-travel community? How is their work effective?
  • Which more general transport policies/schemes most reduce exclusion from active travel? How does this come about?
  • What actions would be most effective in addressing social injustice in active travel? (financial incentives, regulation, infrastructure, institutional arrangements, funding for agencies, etc.)

Practicalities

Writing your evidence

Your submission should:

  • not exceed 2,000 words (though you are free to include appendices)
  • include an introduction to you or your organisation and your reason for submitting evidence

If you’d like your evidence to be anonymous (we’ll publish your evidence, but not your name or any personal details about you) or confidential (we’ll read your evidence, but we won’t publish it), please make this clear in your submission e-mail.

What will happen to your evidence?

  • Your evidence will normally be published on the internet. It stays public forever.  That means that other people will be able to find and read what you send us.
  • Your name (or your organisation’s name) will be published with your evidence. You can ask for your evidence to be anonymous.
  • The APPGCW doesn’t have to accept your evidence or publish what you send us.
  • We’ll read your evidence and we’ll use it to help the APPGCW’s inquiry. For example, the APPGCW might use your name and your evidence in a report.

Submitting your evidence

Please submit your evidence as a single Word, ODT or RTF document (not a PDF), ensuring that it does not exceed 25MB and that it does not contain logos.

Please send your evidence to coffmana@parliament.uk by Monday 16th December

We at the APPGCW want everyone’s voice to be heard. Please contact us if for any reason you find it difficult to send us your evidence as requested.

[1] Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation