CMO for Wales shares his views on active travel
There is now widespread agreement in the public health world that more should be done to enable and promote active travel - walking and cycling. Dr Tony Jewell (CMO Wales) shares his views on what should be done to enable and promote active travel as a partial solution for problems of physical inactivity, climate change and a number of other societal issues.
Q. Why don't we have national targets to increase walking and cycling? How can we establish and then achieve such targets? The CMO for England recently called for walking (in England) to be doubled and cycling increased eightfold: do you regard these as reasonable aspirations in Wales?
The recently launched, Walking and Cycling Action Plan for Wales 2009-2013 contains a number of targets for boosting walking and cycling levels amongst children and adults. These include targets to triple both the levels of children who cycle to school, and adults who cycle to work. Although we have started from a relatively low baseline in Wales, these are ambitious targets, and work is already underway to achieve them.
Targets are only one of a number of approaches we use to improve levels of walking and cycling in Wales. The prize we seek is a change in culture. I want Wales to be a place where people consider walking or cycling first before getting in their cars. This is a common goal for our team within the Assembly Government and across our range of partners in all sectors, including health.
Q. Sustrans, many public health bodies and NICE have recommended measures such as road space reallocation and speed reduction, to make walking and cycling more appealing options for more people. How would you approach the implementation of these recommendations?
I see the design of the environment as vital in supporting healthy behaviours. Our physical activity action plan - Creating an Active Wales has identified the environment as key to encouraging people to be more active and has listed a number of actions on how this will be addressed. One action we are taking is to commission Public Health Wales to develop a web based toolkit called Planet Health Cymru which will bring together best practice guides, and assessment tools alongside evidence on the environment and health. This will act as a vital resource for transport planners, architects, engineers and urban planners. It is anticipated that this web based resource that will draw on the best examples and tools from across Wales, the UK and Europe will be launched in the late summer.
We also see our Sustainable Travel Centre initiative as a vital way of encouraging best practice across Wales. This initiative will enable Local Authorities to deliver a package of measures such as travel planning or marketing, to provide travel alternatives through walking, cycling, public transport and sustainable car use. These measures need to be accompanied by behavioural changes and effective branding to ensure success. The initiative will be evaluated to ensure lessons are learned for other areas.
Q. Is public transport good for public health?
Yes, it is good for public health. From a chronic disease prevention perspective our key focus is on encouraging more active forms of transport such as walking and cycling, but it is recognised that accessing public transport often involves some walking or cycling, and for many, particularly disadvantaged groups, public transport provides the only access to essential services such as health centres and hospitals.
I also recognise the impact of pollution on people's health. The interventions outlined in the National Transport Plan aim to create an integrated and sustainable transport system, which will make it easier for people to be less reliant on the private car and to use public transport, walking and cycling more frequently. This will reduce pollution and make our cities and towns healthier environments for living and working.
Q. What measures in your view would give health professionals a more effective input to the development of national transport and planning policies, and to local strategies and practice?
We currently have a number of strategic planning processes that have input from public health professionals, at a national and local level e.g. public health professionals advise on the implementation of our Walking and Cycling Action Plan. The Planet Health Cymru toolkit I mentioned in a previous question is designed to promote a common language between policy makers and practitioners from both health and transport, urban planning, green environment and all areas and disciplines that influence the sustainability, environment, transport & health agendas. The toolkit is also quality assured by a multi-agency advisory panel of experts from all sectors including health.
More generally, the physical environment is widely recognised and acknowledged as a critical determinant of health and local Health Social Care and Wellbeing strategies and their associated action plans will identify actions that address the range of health impacts.
The public health has been engaged in promoting the use of Health Impact Assessment through developing guidance, resources and training for specific disciplines using relevant case studies. Recently public health professionals ran a course for Transport Planners and will be running further such courses in the near future.
There is always more that can be done but the input of public health expertise into local strategic planning, and a shared understanding of the issues between transport and health will only help to strengthen local delivery.
Q. In relation to transport investment, do you have a view on what proportion of transport funds should be spent on increasing active travel, and on priority areas for that investment?
We are obviously keen to see transport money being invested in active travel and work closely with our transport department to link funding for behavioural change programmes with transport infrastructure projects. In Wales we are currently funding developments across four Sustainable Travel Centres. This will deliver both infrastructure projects, including provision for walking and cycling, and travel planning programmes which will promote those routes and encourage people to use them. In addition funding is being provided through transport grants and these can be used to support development of walking and cycling infrastructure.
Q. Given that climate change is one of the biggest global threats that we face, what have you personally done in the last six months to use more environmentally friendly and sustainable forms of transport such as bikes and trains rather than cars and planes?
I use trains more for my longer and weekend travel and walk to the shuttle bus to get into office, as a result I have seriously reduced the number of miles I travel by car.
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