The current cycling and walking investment strategy includes a target for 55% of trips to be walked, wheeled or cycled by 2035. Is the Secretary of State confident that there is a realistic plan with sufficient funding to achieve that target?

This Government recognises that investment in active travel gives people affordable transport choice to cut the cost of living. In December 2025, the Government announced £626 million funding for local authorities from 2026/27 to 2029/30 to deliver walking, wheeling and cycling schemes. This builds on the almost £300 million funding announced in February 2025 for 2024/25 and 2025/26. A further £108 million was announced in March for cycle training and walk to school programmes over the next three years.

The Government will shortly be publishing the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS3) following a consultation in the autumn of 2025.

Better Connected: A Strategy for Integrated Transport recognises the crucial role that walking, wheeling and cycling play in connecting people and places, either as the whole trip or as part of accessing the wider transport network. It commits Active Travel England to develop a framework for assessing the quality and connectivity of walking, wheeling and cycling routes to rail stations, as well as cycle parking provision.

The strategy is supported by the Government’s new Local Transport Plan (LTP) guidance, under which local transport authorities should set out in their LTPs how walking, wheeling and cycling will be enabled, prioritised and integrated with other forms of local transport.

The Government is also providing significant investment in active travel, including £626 million funding for local authorities from 2026/27 to 2029/30, and will publish the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS3), shortly.

On 25th March, Active Travel England set out its intention to publish guidance during 2026 as part of a programme of work to support authorities to design safer streets for women and girls.

The programme is under development this year with the intention to deliver guidance in a range of formats to ensure it is practical, engaging and easy to adopt.

This will include an introductory guidance document on the topic of gender and active travel, and a revised best practice guide for community consultation and engagement. A schedule of training is expected to follow in the new year for council officers, developers and practitioners. Guidance will consider active travel inclusive of walking, wheeling and cycling.

We will be publishing the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy shortly.

Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, the government consulted a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The consultation on the revised Framework, which can be found on gov.uk here, set out a number of proposals to support development in sustainable locations, including a “default yes” for suitable proposals that develop land around rail stations within existing settlements, and around ‘well-connected’ train stations outside settlements, including on Green Belt land.

It makes clear that such development should be limited to land physically well-related to the station and within reasonable walking distance of it.

Reasonable walking distance is not quantified in the consultation document itself but following the Oral Statement I made on 16 December 2025 I referenced 800 metres (approximately 10 minutes at moderate walking speed) as the government’s working assumption of how it might be defined.

The consultation sought views on all aspects of the policy, including how reasonable walking distance should be defined.

We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in due course.

Local authorities are responsible for managing the roads under their jurisdiction, drawing on their knowledge of local conditions and the needs of their communities. This includes the power to set local speed limits. Authorities may introduce 20mph limits in areas where people and traffic mix, such as outside schools, and they may also apply enforceable part‑time 20mph limits during specific periods, including school drop‑off and pick‑up times.

Authorities will have our full backing when implementing measures that respond to the concerns of local people.

As set out in the Road Safety Strategy the Government will be reviewing and updating its guidance, including ‘Setting Local Speed Limits’ and the ‘guidance on the use of speed and red‑light cameras’, to further support local authorities in making well‑informed decisions about managing speed on their networks.

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to highlight the benefits of active travel. This Government are so enthusiastic about that, and we have set out £626 million of active travel funding to support it. Very shortly we will publish our cycling and walking investment strategy, which will guide local authorities on how best to spend the money.

An October 2024 Active Travel England analysis of case studies found that walking and cycling schemes typically generate a benefit-cost ratio of between 3.5:1 and 19:1. Given the plans for significant devolution of transport funding, how will the Government ensure that local authorities deliver consistent standards and improvements to streets and routes to enable walking and cycling, and the huge accompanying economic and health benefits?

The Government continues to progress plans to deliver nine new National River Walks across England, one in each region, to enhance access to nature. We will identify locations for the next tranche of river walks through a competition that will be launched before the end of 2026. We will give further details relating to the competition, selection and assessment criteria in due course.

The Government continues to progress plans to deliver nine new National River Walks across England, one in each region, to enhance access to nature. We will identify locations for the next tranche of river walks through a competition that will be launched before the end of 2026. We will give further details relating to the competition, selection and assessment criteria in due course.

The Government continues to progress plans to deliver nine new National River Walks across England, one in each region, to enhance access to nature. We will identify locations for the next tranche of river walks through a competition that will be launched before the end of 2026. We will give further details relating to the competition, selection and assessment criteria in due course.

Being physically active, including walking and brisk walking, can help with the prevention and management of long-term health conditions, such as some cancers. Movement is an important part of care for people going through cancer treatment, helping to support recovery and boosting mental health and wellbeing.

The recently published National Cancer Plan is putting quality of life at the heart of cancer care, including physical activity to help patients through treatment successfully. Every patient will get a personalised plan that looks at their physical, mental, and practical needs, with support increasingly delivered through neighbourhood services and accessible digitally through the NHS App.

Under the plan we will deliver a universal digital-first prehabilitation offer for all cancer patients through the NHS App and other digital channels. This will include signposting to other existing digital services such as exercise classes and walking apps like NHS Active 10, ensuring cancer patients can best prepare for their treatment at, or close to, home.

The beautiful River Derwent, which powered the early industrial revolution, flows through Derby and up to the Peak district. I have met local councils, MPs and our East Midlands Mayor as well as many local and regional organisations that agree that turning our existing rambling walks and cycle paths into a continuous river walk would have massive health, economic and wellbeing benefits. Will the Minister please provide an update on establishing regional river walks?

We said in our manifesto that we would deliver nine new national river walks—one in every region—to bring nature closer to people and make it accessible to everyone. My hon. Friend paints an amazing picture of the beautiful River Derwent. The first river walk, in the north-west, will be completed in the spring. The locations of the next walks will be subject to a competition later this year. I encourage her and all the partners she mentions to apply.

The Road Safety Strategy sets an ambitious target to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on British roads by 65% by 2035. This target will focus the efforts of road safety partners across Britain, with measures to protect vulnerable road users, update vehicle safety technologies and review motoring offences.

One of the Safety Performance Indicators which will be monitored alongside delivery of the Strategy is: the rate of cyclists/pedestrians killed or seriously injured on England’s roads, measured as the number of fatalities and serious injuries per billion miles walked and cycled. Monitoring this should enable government to understand the impact that the Strategy is having on deaths and serious injuries of those cycling or walking.

Our roads aren’t just for motorists; it is vitally important that everyone using our roads is kept safe. With that in mind on the 10 December 2025 we announced that we are allocating £626 million for local authorities from 2026-27 to 2029-30 to deliver walking, wheeling and cycling schemes.

The department’s home-to-school travel policy aims to make sure that no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. Local authorities must arrange free home-to-school travel for eligible children. A child is eligible if they are of compulsory school age, 5 to 16, attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem, or because the nature of the route means it would be unsafe for them to do so. There are extended rights to free travel for children from low-income families.

Local authorities also have a discretionary power to arrange travel for other children if they choose to do so.

Tackling school absence is at the heart of this government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity. Since September 2024, we have added a new absence code to school registers to reflect issues with local authority arranged transport. Only 0.011% of the total number of school sessions for the 2024/25 academic year were missed due to issues with transport normally provided by the local authority or school not being available.