PRESS RELEASE

Government freewheeling on active travel as strategy expires

England is without a cycling and walking strategy, for the first time since April 2017. Besides breaching the law, campaigners from Transport Action Network [1] say the lack of direction makes it ever more likely key government targets are set to be missed. The flagship goal for half of urban journeys to be walked and cycled by 2030 is particularly at risk, placing the ambition of a healthier nation in jeopardy.

For many years, cycling and walking were seen as an afterthought and could only rely on piecemeal funding. In 2015 the Infrastructure Act tried to change that, giving them the same status as railways and roads, requiring stable funding and regularly updated strategies.

Public Health England welcomed this key shift, saying it “should have large implications for enabling people to travel in more physically active ways for short journeys” [2].

The last plan, announced in 2022, said that investing in pavements and cycle tracks was “one of the best return on investment decisions governments can make” that would be “saving our NHS billions of pounds each year” [3]. But it ran out on 31 March 2025, as did the plan for roads.

While both sectors received stop gap funding for the next financial year [4], the Department for Transport only published an interim strategy for roads. A ministerial statement explained that a new cycling and walking strategy would be published after the spending review [5], but did not explain why no interim plan was published, despite a clear legal duty [6]. Worse still, critical reports by the National Audit Office and MPs in 2023 found a lack of investment and strategy were leading to “disappointingly slow progress” [7].

Chris Todd, Director of Transport Action Network said:

“Officials have known for years that they needed a new active travel strategy by now. Similarly, that a step change in strategy and funding were required. With money tight, the Government should invest in active travel where it can get the most bang for buck. It also needs to make wider changes to policy to go further and faster.

“In other priority sectors like clean energy, the Government has published a plan setting out infrastructure needs up to 2030 and the reforms to achieve that. Yet the difference here is as clear as night and day. It is nearly five years since the DfT consulted on banning pavement parking and two since Wales made 20mph the default speed limit in urban areas. These are surely essential in England now. There is not much time left if we are still serious about boosting healthy travel by 2030.”

New figures show how drift at the Department for Transport is failing to deliver on cross-party ambition for a healthier nation. [8]

	Baseline	2025 target	2023 actual
Short journeys in towns and cities walked or cycled	41% in 2018	46%	43%
Walking stages per person per year		365	325
Cycling stages per year	0.8bn in 2013	1.6bn	0.9bn
Children aged 5 to 10 who usually walk to school	49% in 2014	55%	49%

The debacle comes after the Labour government has failed to make up shortfalls in active travel funding following cuts made by the previous government in March 2023. Transport Action Network launched a legal challenge against this, which will be considered by the Court of Appeal at the end of April [9].

According to a ministerial briefing released as part of the proceedings, officials advised that cuts to “funding will also impact on our ability to meet the 2030 target (50% of journeys walked and cycled in towns and cities) set out in the statutory CWIS, necessitating higher levels of funding in 2025 onwards to make up shortfalls”. Yet after inflation, investment in the coming year is set to decrease. TAN is now seeking to crowdfund the final £13,000 of its legal costs.

There has been no public consultation nationally on cycling and walking strategy since 2016 [10]. With bodies like the Climate Change Committee calling for effective engagement on how to make greener choices easier and more attractive, TAN believes that it is long overdue for the public to have their say. This should include the level of ambition of targets, including alternative ways to increase physical activity to reduce pressure on the NHS. Also the balance of investment in new facilities versus maintenance and shifting space on existing roads, and priorities, such as integration with public transport.

Todd concluded:

“Cycling and walking are a great way to make travel affordable, healthy and boosting economic activity. Yet without adequate funding, strategy and public engagement, we risk stagnation and being stuck on the back foot.”

– ENDS –

Notes for editors:

[1] TAN helps communities press for better (more sustainable) transport, such as more investment in bus and rail services and active travel. To enable this and better roads maintenance (fewer potholes) we continue to oppose the previous government’s damaging roads programme. We also support better integration between transport and planning.

[2] Active travel briefing for Local Authorities, Public Health England 2016.

[3] The second cycling and walking investment strategy was published in July 2022.

[4] Strategic road network: interim settlement 2025 to 2026.

[5] Third cycling and walking investment strategy.

[6] Where there is no current strategy in place, the Infrastructure Act 2015 requires the Secretary of State to “lay before Parliament a report explaining why a Strategy has not been set”. While the plans for major roads and active travel both ran out, the DfT published a 30 page road plan for 2025/6, by contrast just a three paragraph statement on cycling and walking. Both sectors were given funding for the coming financial year, pending a longer-term settlement in the Spending Review, so it is unclear why only one is missing a plan.

[7] Active travel: Government programme off-track as funding reductions hold back progress – Committees – UK Parliament.

[8] Highways Magazine compiled these figures based on data from Active Travel England: Active travel targets at risk as national strategy set for delay.

[9] Walking and cycling legal challenge – Transport Action Network.

[10] Draft cycling and walking investment strategy consultation. A subsequent consultation was held in 2018 on cycling safety but it did not cover the overall strategy or its targets.