There is overwhelming evidence that investment in active travel infrastructure brings significant benefits.

These include large returns on investment, addressing emissions from road transport, reducing regional inequalities, and improving health. Despite this, investment has remained low, and walking, wheeling, and cycling rates in the United Kingdom lag behind much of Europe.

To deliver truly world class active travel infrastructure, government must learn from previous successes in the UK and further afield to ramp up its spending on active travel and provide longer-term certainty to local authorities.

Key recommendations:

• Put in place a 10-year investment guarantee for walking, wheeling and cycling in England that covers the period from 2025–35.
• Funding should be drawn from multiple sources. This should include new green investment of at least £225 million per year, and the reallocation of a proportion of transport funding currently earmarked for road expansion during this period.
• Wherever feasible, active travel funds should be allocated as part of singlepot, long-term funding settlements to local and regional authorities, and be coordinated and administered with the support of Active Travel England (ATE).