Organisation: Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)
Date of Publication: February 2024
Uploaded to Knowledge Centre: 28 February 2024
This report analyses 12 Local Cycling and Walking Investment Plans
(LCWIPs) to identify the level of investment needed to deliver a world class active
travel network.
KEY FINDINGS
• Disparities in active travel spending led to an investment gap of around £2.3 billion between London and the rest of the country between 2016 and 2021. While London spent the equivalent of £24 per head per year in that period, the rest of the country spent the equivalent of only £10 per head. Investment in active travel has historically been low across England, accounting for just
two per cent of total transport spend, leading to some of the lowest cycling and walking rates in Europe.
• In a cost of living crisis, where running a car continues to get more expensive, well-integrated active travel infrastructure can make travelling more affordable for many. The investment disparity across the country leads to a postcode lottery: those without active travel infrastructure do not benefit from the savings of reduced car use or improved health and wellbeing enabled by shifting short journeys from cars to active travel (projected to save the NHS £17 billion over 20 years).
• Analysis of 12 LCWIPs across England found an average spend per head of £35 capital investment is needed each year for 10 years to deliver the change needed. An additional £15 per head will deliver further interventions required to boost walking, wheeling and cycling numbers. This might include cycling training, a large-scale subsidy scheme to increase access to standard and adapted cycles, cargo bikes and electric bikes, cycle storage, integration of active travel infrastructure with public transport or public engagement. This is in line with funding in Scotland, which is heading towards £58 per head.
• Spending on active travel pales in comparison to the amounts spent on roads. In the 2016–2021 period, an average of £148 per person per year was spent on roads – more than 10 times the amount spent on active travel across the country.
• Spend on active travel is among the most secure investments that government can make. For every £1 spent, active travel infrastructure has an average return on investment of £5.62, and these returns increase over time. In comparison, average road building returns are £2.50 for every £1 spent, while some projects realise no return on investment at all. The Lower Thames Crossing (costing up to £9 billion) is expected to deliver a maximum return of £1.46 for every £1 spent. If
invested in active travel, £9 billion could deliver over 3,800 miles of separated cycle paths – more than double the length of the road network in Birmingham.
• Reducing car journeys is essential to reach net zero and improve air quality. Doubling cycling and increasing walking would prevent 8,300 premature deaths and save £567 million per year through improved air quality. Cycling must increase by at least 20 per cent by 2030 to fairly reduce car use in line with meeting the UK’s climate commitments.
RECOMMENDATIONS
To unlock the potential of active travel, and deliver meaningful change in active travel provision for communities across the country, IPPR calls for the next UK government to implement the following five recommendations:
• Put in place a 10-year investment guarantee for walking, wheeling and cycling in England that covers the period from 2025–35. This should include a commitment to spend at least £50 per head on active travel in England by 2029-30, £35 of which should be on physical infrastructure. For the entire fourth cycling and walking investment strategy (CWIS4) period (2030–2035), spending should be equivalent to at least 10 per cent of the total transport budget (roughly £2 billion per year).
• Funding should be drawn from multiple sources. This should include new green investment of at least £225 million per year, and the reallocation of a proportion of transport funding currently earmarked for road expansion during this period.
• Wherever feasible, active travel funds should be allocated as part of single- pot, long-term funding settlements to local and regional authorities, and be coordinated and administered with the support of Active Travel England (ATE). The settlements should ensure a minimum level of investment in active travel and have clear outcome-based requirements.
• The National Cycle Network should have a 10-year investment plan. This funding would be administered via ATE, who should play an active role in prioritising schemes, monitoring progress, and evaluating impact.
• Urgently produce a national transport strategy for England, covering all domestic transport modes, which sets out a vision for the future of the transport system and the goals that all transport spending should seek to achieve, including a fair reduction in car use.
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