Meeting of the Parliament 07 January 2015
I could be wrong, but I suspect that consensus will rule supreme this afternoon. Of course, Opposition members from across the chamber will endeavour to keep the minister on his toes. Nevertheless, I thank the minister for his kind remarks at the start of his speech.
To continue that theme of consensus, Scottish Labour will support the Government motion and the Green amendment. However, we will be asking searching questions about the active travel budget.
I will focus on the why question in my contribution. On a simplistic level, what are the benefits of active travel? What does the evidence say? I will touch on, as the minister has, road safety, which will lead me on to questions about design in our cities and towns. I will finish on budgetary issues.
We on this side of the chamber are keen supporters of active travel. Labour wants to encourage walking and cycling. We want to promote a culture of active travel more generally. What are the benefits of active travel? The minister touched on them: it has wide-ranging personal health benefits, it is environmentally friendly, and it is a very low-cost or free means of transport.
King’s College London has recently completed a wide-ranging study on the health benefits of cycling. Professor Norman Lazarus was quoted in Tuesday’s Press and Journal:
“Cycling not only keeps you mentally alert, but requires the vigorous use of many of the body’s key systems, such as your muscles, heart and lungs which you need for maintaining health and for reducing the risks associated with numerous diseases.”
The study examined 122 fit amateur cyclists aged between 55 to 79. It concluded that many were physically and biologically younger than most people of the same age.
There has also been recent academic research into the health benefits of walking by C3 Collaborating for Health. It argues that walking has clear benefits for physical and mental health. However, between 1989 and 2004, the number of children walking or cycling to school fell from 62 to 50 per cent in the United Kingdom as a whole. Parental fear of children being involved in road accidents or general child protection concerns could have contributed to that fall in numbers.
Physical barriers may be a greater problem for the elderly, for people with disabilities and for parents with young children. What helps? The improvement of infrastructure helps, such as implementing footpaths and seating areas, highlighting the social aspects of walking, and the use of tools such as smartphones and route planners that provide safe, reliable information for those wishing to make healthy lifestyle changes.
Collaborating for Health concludes that active transport is associated with a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity and higher blood pressure.
There is excellent best practice. For example, the walking tube map in London shows the number of steps it takes to walk between each station. On my first outing as Labour’s transport representative, I have a suggestion: why do we not develop a similar map for the Scottish Parliament? We could have a walking route from each member’s office to all the committee rooms along with the number of steps each journey takes. Perhaps that could be a job for the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body.