Ministers want 60% of children walking or cycling to school by 2035

[T4tomo]

Still common in Germany: all kids have to take a test run by the police, and then they're covered by the school insurance. My daughter now frequently cycles to high school which is a 12km round trip.

There are 2 moderately busy roads to cross on the way, the rest is either traffic-calmed streets or segregated cycleways: it really isn't that hard to achieve.

and just as importnatly the locals are aware there will be kids cycling around school times.

My mate brough his kids up in Swissy-land, from aged about *5/ 6 they walked one their own down to school and up and back at lunch time etc.

The locals knew it happened and looked out for them, and neighbours kids would walked together / gather up a mate en route etc.

* may have been earlier, they had a longer kindergarten and formal school later age start and walked to both.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

AT is a council priority here

A very low one

 

[Drago]

Lower than a mine shaft in Death Valley.

 

[Oldhippy]

Cycling UK have recently employed a few Cycling spokesperson type jobs to engage councils, businesses and basically fly the flag as much as possibleincluding one for Kent. Kent received a huge chunk of government cash a couple of years ago for active travel but as far as I am aware there hasn't been a ripple of anything at all. Reform council though so not a surprise I suppose.

 

[katiewlx]

They aren't allowed to do that nowadays in Wales.
For any new developments, they have to follow the guidelines in this document to get planning permission.
https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2024-07/planning-policy-wales-edition-12.pdf


7.6.7 Developments that do not adequately make provision for walking and cycling should not be approved.

the problem is what does "adequate" equate to ? Im sure the guidelines in England are probably the same, and maybe its wrong for me to say theres no provision at all, but the provision they provide is ultimately largely meaningless, as it is then just box ticking to meet guidelines.

theres no grand plan for it, theyve made a couple of pavements into a shared use path, or theres a toucan crossing instead of just a pedestrian one, but it doesn link up with anything, it doesnt make active travel journeys better or encourage people to switch modes and so doesnt tip the modal shift meter at all.

and because most of these new estates, certainly in my part of the world are often out of existing population centres, well away from kind of the basics like schools, doctors, shops, before you add on entertainment or leisure, or even if they are near theres usually a crazy busy road in the way, you bake in car dependency. because to get anywhere you have to drive because your estate is just an adjunct off a main road somewhere.

thats the issue. and I dont see any council of any flavour tackling that.

 

[Andy in Germany]

and just as importnatly the locals are aware there will be kids cycling around school times.

My mate brough his kids up in Swissy-land, from aged about *5/ 6 they walked one their own down to school and up and back at lunch time etc.

The locals knew it happened and looked out for them, and neighbours kids would walked together / gather up a mate en route etc.

* may have been earlier, they had a longer kindergarten and formal school later age start and walked to both.

Indeed, this is an important factor: it's a large village too, so there are lots of people on the route who knew our kids by name.

Possibly because of this Beautiful Daughter goes through life with enough self-confidence for three people. Once she took herself off to visit a friend a few streets away. She was about four at the time.

We later heard that she'd been asked by someone if she was okay, and had apparently very politely answered "Yes, thank you. I've been to the Library, and now I'm visiting a friend"

We found her very easily, just by following the trail of bemused neighbours. All the local streets are traffic-calmed, although some drivers don't seem to understand what 7km/h is.

And yes, school starts at six here, not four, but children usually walk to school in groups from the first or second week: it's considered normal and important that they become more independent this way. As you can imagine Beautiful Daughter took to this like a duck to water.

 

[Drago]

the problem is what does "adequate" equate to ? Im sure the guidelines in England are probably the same, and maybe its wrong for me to say theres no provision at all, but the provision they provide is ultimately largely meaningless, as it is then just box ticking to meet guidelines.

theres no grand plan for it, theyve made a couple of pavements into a shared use path, or theres a toucan crossing instead of just a pedestrian one, but it doesn link up with anything, it doesnt make active travel journeys better or encourage people to switch modes and so doesnt tip the modal shift meter at all.

and because most of these new estates, certainly in my part of the world are often out of existing population centres, well away from kind of the basics like schools, doctors, shops, before you add on entertainment or leisure, or even if they are near theres usually a crazy busy road in the way, you bake in car dependency. because to get anywhere you have to drive because your estate is just an adjunct off a main road somewhere.

thats the issue. and I dont see any council of any flavour tackling that.

Theres a new estate on the edge of Bedford, right on the urban fringe, can only be accessed or egressed by road. No footways, no cycle tracks, no shared paths. Very busy single carriaheway main road only. Its such a s***e piece of urban design that it was even mentioned in my environmental studies degree course material as an example of hilarious crapness.

What kind of prat thinks that is a good idea in any way, what kind of prat authorises it to be built like that, and what kind of prat enables policy that allows such a thing to happen?

 

[Pat "5mph"]

the problem is what does "adequate" equate to ? Im sure the guidelines in England are probably the same, and maybe its wrong for me to say theres no provision at all, but the provision they provide is ultimately largely meaningless, as it is then just box ticking to meet guidelines.

theres no grand plan for it, theyve made a couple of pavements into a shared use path, or theres a toucan crossing instead of just a pedestrian one, but it doesn link up with anything, it doesnt make active travel journeys better or encourage people to switch modes and so doesnt tip the modal shift meter at all.

and because most of these new estates, certainly in my part of the world are often out of existing population centres, well away from kind of the basics like schools, doctors, shops, before you add on entertainment or leisure, or even if they are near theres usually a crazy busy road in the way, you bake in car dependency. because to get anywhere you have to drive because your estate is just an adjunct off a main road somewhere.

thats the issue. and I dont see any council of any flavour tackling that.

Yes, same here in Scotland.
Near my housing estate a new road was built, an extra road actually, to ease traffic congestion.
There was to be provisions for walking and cycling the mile to the nearest shops.
The already potholed narrow pavement (including 2 bus stops and 2 sets of pedestrian crossings) was made a shared path, to the great annoyance of pedestrians and cyclists alike.
A local councilor once said "we promised that one would be able to cycle from X to Z without using the road, and we did it".
They had made ALL the existing pavements from X to Z shared use, that's all that was done