Swale's Cycling and Walking Pathways

Active travel refers to modes of travel that involve a level of activity.

The term is often used interchangeably with walking and cycling, but active travel can also include trips made by wheelchair, mobility scooters, adapted cycles, e-cycles, scooters, as well as cycle sharing schemes. Active travel can also be part of a journey – for example, cycling to the station and then catching a train or improving activity in children by parking away from the school gates and walking the last 10 minutes each day.

Active travel is becoming increasingly important as challenges around climate change become more pressing and the demand for active travel solutions grows. Investment in cycling and walking can have wider positive impacts on people and places, making roads quieter and safer, improving air quality, improving physical and mental wellbeing and creating attractive places for people to travel within and between.

In 2017, the Department for Transport (DfT) published their first Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (‘CWIS’). The aim of this was to encourage cycling and walking to be-come a key mode of travel for shorter journeys or as a stage of a longer journey by delivering better safety, mobility and streets.

Alongside the CWIS, the DfT published practical, strategic guidance on developing Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs) for local bodies.

Why active travel is important

Walking, wheeling and cycling are the least carbon-intensive ways to travel.  According to research by gov.uk, walking currently accounts for only 5% of the total distance travelled in England. Around 49% of trips in towns and cities under 5 miles were made by car in 2021, with around a quarter of all car trips in England less than 2 miles.

Many of these trips could be walked, wheeled or cycled, which would help to reduce the 68 megatons (Mt) carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emitted from cars in 2019. This would benefit local economies, as well as improve people’s health.

More active travel will also make roads quieter, safer and more attractive for people to walk, wheel and cycle – a virtuous cycle.

How Swale Borough Council help increase active travel

Local authorities can play an important role in increasing walking, wheeling and cycling. Through influencing planning and taking a wider, strategic view of travel infrastructure across their area, authorities can ensure that active travel infrastructure connects residents to services.

Swale Borough Council is the only secondary tier Council in Kent that has a full-time ‘Active Travel Officer’.  As part of their role, they are now being consulted on any new planning applications to ensure that the applications not just hinder active travel but actively promotes active travel as a preferred travel mode.

Swale Borough Council are also developing a Swale-wide LCWIP (Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan).

Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP)

The government’s ambition is to make walking, wheeling and cycling the natural choices, both for shorter and longer journeys. Transforming local areas in ways that support active travel will reduce congestion, improve air quality, improve physical and mental health and support local economies. The Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) concept has been developed by the Department for Transport (DfT) for local and regional authorities to take a strategic approach in improving walking and cycling infrastructure.

Developing an LCWIP will help to ensure that the public and stakeholders are clear about where our priorities are for improvements to walking, wheeling and cycling. It will also enable Swale to make the case for future active travel investment.

LCWIPs are evidence-led, long-term plans to identify cycling, walking, and wheeling improvements.  LCWIPs provide:

• network plans identifying preferred routes for further development
• prioritised programme - a list of infrastructure improvements for futures investment
• background report explaining the process followed and analysis undertaken

Swale does already have an existing LCWIP in place since 2022 and this has been created and managed by Faversham Town Council for the Faversham area of the Borough.  This was written independently of Swale Borough Council and representatives from Swale Borough Council have been part of the working group for the Faversham LCWIP.

Swale Borough Council are currently in the process of creating a Swale-wide LCWIP that will cover the more populated areas of the Borough (Sheppey and Sittingbourne) whilst incorporating the work of the Faversham LCWIP.  It is anticipated that the Swale LCWIP will go out to public consultation in September 2025.

Using data, evidence and stakeholder engagement, we will identify an aspirational high-level network of future walking, wheeling, and cycling corridors across the Borough and the infrastructure required to achieve this.

By developing a Swale-wide LCWIP, we will be able to take an informed network-based approach to planning and delivering this infrastructure. It is vital to do this as the design and delivery of infrastructure often requires external funding and having an LCWIP greatly improves our ability to gain this funding.

Cycle Recycle

A partnership project between Swale Borough Council, HMP Swaleside, and the Canterbury Bike Project, Swale Cycle Recycle works. Unwanted bikes from across the borough are taken to a workshop at HMP Swaleside where instructors train inmates to repair the bikes.  The inmates gain valuable employment skills in the process, ultimately supporting their eventual rehabilitation.

Once fixed, the bikes are distributed back into the community for a minimum donation of £10, all of which goes back into the project to keep it self-financing.

Read more about Cycle Recycle on our news section.