PM urged to improve walking provision in recovery plan

Dan Jarvis has urged the Prime Minister to recognise that post-coronavirus we must create a cleaner and greener environment and put walking and cycling at the heart of plans to get the country moving again.

Alongside Dame Sarah Storey, the Mayor of the Sheffield City Region has written to Boris Johnson saying that to prevent the inevitable increase in car use, safe provision for those on foot or bikes will be essential, both in Sheffield and beyond.

As South Yorkshire begins to recover from the impact of coronavirus, passengers on public transport are likely to need to socially distance from each other, reducing capacity on trams, buses and trains. In the letter, Mayor Jarvis and Active Travel Commissioner Dame Sarah outline their proposals to enable more people to walk and cycle safely, whilst adhering to social distancing guidelines.

They have asked for flexibility in funding, to allow South Yorkshire to use the £166million allocated to the region through the Transforming Cities Fund to be used to make space for walking and cycling quickly during the pandemic. They also say that it is important the government encourage councils to identify and safeguard space for walking and cycling so that the health and well-being benefits of increased walking and cycling during lockdown will continue, and provide further investment in programmes which help people get on their bikes or walk more.

The joint letter says: “The current Covid-19 crisis has taught us many things. The importance of good social networks, the resilience of local communities but also how influential people’s travel choices are, in both helping to combat the spread of the virus while ensuring the best recovery for the country, both from an economic but also public health perspective.

“The impact of Covid-19 on transport has been profound. Commuting by public transport is down as much as 90 per cent in some of our urban areas. In addition, combined with the reduction in private car use, we have seen air quality levels measurably improve, with more and more people enjoying the benefits of walking and cycling for allowable trips, especially for exercise. Research shows that cleaner air and increasing exercise will increase the resilience of the population to all infections.

“We welcome the Department for Transport’s support to keep our public transport network operating during this difficult period. Given patronage levels will be unlikely to recover in the short term due to the need to continue with social distancing measures post lockdown, this is likely to mean restricted use of our public transport modes for some time. The risk is that this will drive more people back into cars as the only viable alternative. That is not a risk that we want to take.”