THE Scottish Government has announced an extra £40m funding for walking and cycling.

In ‘A Nation With Ambition: The Government's Programme for Scotland 2017-18’ , they pledge to ‘build an Active Nation, boosting investment in walking and cycling and putting active travel at the heart of our transport planning. Actions include making towns and cities friendlier and safer spaces for pedestrians and cyclists by increasing investment that supports active travel from £40 million to £80 million per year from 2018-19.’

Scotland’s towns and cities can be transformed by this revolutionary level of funding. By improving our streets and creating new pedestrian areas and cycle routes, we can make cycling and walking the norm.

This isn’t just an investment in transport but in the health of the nation as people are encouraged to get more active and harmful emissions from traffic are reduced.

Living Streets looks forward to working with our partners to ensure this investment delivers benefits at a local level. With this announcement, the Scottish Government has set the bar for investment for the rest of the UK.

We are Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking.

We want to create a walking nation, free from congested roads and pollution, reducing the risk of preventable illness and social isolation and making walking the natural choice. We believe that a walking nation means progress for everyone.

Our ambition is to get people of all generations to enjoy the benefits that this simple act brings and to ensure all our streets are fit for walking.

For more than 85 years we’ve been a beacon for walking. In our early days our campaigning led to the UK’s first zebra crossings and speed limits.

Now our campaigns and local projects deliver real change to overcome barriers to walking and our groundbreaking initiatives such as the world’s biggest Walk to School campaign encourage millions of people to walk.

STUART HAY,

Living Streets Scotland.