Our programme for promoting active travel
“It did raise the profile of walking as a route to fitness and some who had not been walkers before took it up. The staff on shifts can only walk in their own time after work but we know many of them have made good use of the walks book.” Martyn Harvey, Physical Activity Champion, 3M Aycliffe Although the organised health walks are now over, they have helped to establish a permanent ‘culture’ of walking within the plant. Daily lunchtime walks of 30 minutes or so are commonplace, new staff see them as part of what’s available and it would seem that healthy walking at the plant has become self-sustaining. “When the led health walks ended, we went back to all those who had taken part and it became clear that those who could were still walking during the working day and many were following the routes in the book with their family and friends at other times. Several people who have retired from 3M Aycliffe have joined the local health walk scheme.” Pat Hardy, Occupational Health Nurse, 3M Aycliffe Walking, on its own or combined with bus/train travel, is one of the options encouraged on 3M’s annual, well-supported Sustainable Transport Day when staff at the plant are encouraged to give up their cars for the day.
Children, young people and the education sector School travel plans 4.14
Promoting and increasing active and sustainable travel to schools and other educational establishments is a core part of our active travel strategy. With the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), DfT is supporting local authorities to increase sustainable travel to school through the joint ‘Travelling to School Initiative’ set up in 2003. Through the Initiative, DfT and DCSF are providing £7.5m per year to local authorities to enable them to employ school travel advisers who work with schools to help them develop and implement school travel plans and other school based walking and cycling initiatives. DCSF is also providing small capital grants to schools to help them implement the plans. DfT and DCSF are committing more than £140m through the Initiative. By encouraging more active travel by children we believe that we can also encourage habits that last a lifetime, so that over the long-term there would be less need to encourage adults out of their cars and into walking and cycling.
4.15
The Initiative has made considerable progress with more than 81% of schools having a travel plan at the end of March 2009. However, the ambition remains for all schools, including independent schools, to have a plan, and to ensure that existing plans are reviewed and updated regularly, 31