£104 million for the cycle network, and a target: 60% of children walking to school by 2035
What happened
On 22 September 2026 the Transport Secretary, the Rt Hon Heidi Alexander MP, set out the government's approach to active travel in a speech at the Making Active Places conference in Manchester. The announcements included: - £104 million to maintain and expand the National Cycle Network, which covers around 12,000 miles across the UK - A target for 60% of children to walk or cycle to school by 2035 - A mayoral agreement to deliver 3,500 miles of footways, safer crossings and cycle lanes - Wayfinding pilots working towards a consistent national Active Travel Network, so signage is recognisable wherever you are - New active travel routes planned around the HS2 line Billions are committed for active travel investment by 2030, with most of that funding devolved to local government rather than directed from Whitehall. The speech used Greater Manchester's Bee Network as its example. It recorded 700 million active travel trips last year, which works out at roughly one walk, wheel or cycle journey per resident per working day. The framing was that walking and cycling should be treated as ordinary parts of everyday journeys, connected to public transport, rather than as an afterthought.
Why this matters
Two thirds of trips in England are under five miles. A large share of those are made by car, and the school run is a significant part of morning traffic. That has knock-on effects that are easy to miss. Congestion at 8.30am is largely made of short journeys. Air quality outside school gates is worst at drop-off and pick-up. And children who are driven everywhere get less incidental daily activity, which is the kind that actually accumulates. The 60% target is ambitious but not fanciful. Rates of walking and cycling to school were considerably higher a generation ago, and they fell for reasons that are mostly about perceived road danger rather than distance. The detail that will matter most is probably the least exciting one: devolving most of the funding to local government. Active travel schemes fail more often from poor local design than from lack of money. A cycle lane that stops abruptly at a junction is worse than no cycle lane. Local authorities with sustained budgets can plan networks rather than fragments. The wayfinding point is similar. Consistent signage sounds trivial. In practice, not knowing whether a route continues is one of the main reasons people do not use it.
What the evidence actually says
Some honest scrutiny. The Bee Network figure is impressive but it is one city region with an unusually integrated transport authority and a long-running political commitment. Whether it transfers to a rural county with dispersed villages and no bus network is a different question entirely. The 60% target is for 2035, which is two general elections away. Long-horizon targets are easy to announce and hard to hold anyone to. The useful thing to watch is not the target but whether the annual delivery figures are published and scrutinised. £104 million across 12,000 miles of National Cycle Network is about £8,700 per mile. That is meaningful for maintenance, resurfacing and fixing barriers, which is genuinely what a lot of the network needs. It is not enough to build much that is new. The announcement describes it as maintaining and expanding, and the maintenance part is probably where most of it goes. The evidence base for active travel itself is strong. Physical inactivity is one of the largest contributors to preventable ill health in the UK, and building activity into daily routine works better than relying on people choosing to exercise separately. The disputed part has never really been whether walking and cycling are good. It is whether specific schemes are designed well enough for people to actually use them. On safety: the evidence consistently shows that protected infrastructure, which physically separates cycles from traffic, changes who cycles. Painted lines mostly do not. Watch which type gets built.
Practical advice
If you want to make use of this, here is what is actionable now. The National Cycle Network is free to use and mapped in full by Sustrans at sustrans.org.uk. A lot of people live near a traffic-free section without knowing it. If your child's school run is short and the barrier is a specific dangerous junction or missing crossing, that is exactly the kind of thing local authority active travel funding is for. Reporting it, ideally with other parents, genuinely does get schemes on to lists. Most councils have an online form. Many schools run walking buses, where a group of children walk together with adult supervision. If yours does not, the school office can tell you whether there has been interest before. If you are older or have a health condition, walking counts. So does a mobility scooter or a wheelchair; the term 'active travel' officially includes wheeling. Regular gentle movement has clear benefits, and you do not need to cycle to take part. If you cycle, a proper lock and lights matter more than an expensive bike. Bike theft and being invisible at dusk are the two things most likely to end someone's cycling. And if you are managing a health condition, check with your GP or pharmacist before significantly increasing activity, particularly if you take medicines affecting blood pressure, blood sugar or balance.
What to know
On 22 September 2026 the Transport Secretary announced £104 million for the National Cycle Network, a target of 60% of children walking or cycling to school by 2035, a mayoral agreement covering 3,500 miles of footways, crossings and cycle lanes, national wayfinding pilots, and new routes around HS2. Billions are committed by 2030, mostly devolved to local government. The evidence for active travel is solid; the risk is always in delivery. The things worth watching are whether protected infrastructure rather than paint gets built, and whether progress against the 2035 target is published each year. In the meantime, the National Cycle Network is already there and free, and the most effective thing most people can do is report the one junction that makes their local walk or ride feel unsafe. Sources: Department for Transport, 'Making active places 2026', speech by the Rt Hon Heidi Alexander MP, 22 September 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/making-active-places-2026 ; Sustrans, 'National Cycle Network', https://www.sustrans.org.uk/national-cycle-network ; NHS, 'Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64', https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/physical-activity-guidelines-adults-19-to-64/ This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional.
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