In Kent, we define active travel as walking or cycling to get from place to place, such as work or school, rather than solely for leisure or fitness. It has huge benefits for public health.
Developers have a key role to encourage and facilitate active travel, by using intelligent street design and infrastructure provision to persuade people out of their cars wherever possible. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) highlights the importance of sustainable travel in planning and development proposals; we follow its advice that applications should give priority to pedestrian and cycle movements both within schemes and between neighbouring areas.
In particular, we want to see specific use of design to improve convenience, access and safety for pedestrians and cyclists – major factors identified in KCC’s Active Travel Strategy public consultation.