In June 2023, the North East Joint Transport Committee approved a new North East Active Travel Strategy covering Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Durham which will form the basis of future funding bids that could transform the way we travel every day for work, education and leisure up to 2035.
The North East Active Travel Strategy sets a target for over half of all shorter journeys in the North East (under 5 miles) to be made by active travel by 2035, up from 37% in 2018/19.
By achieving an increase of 45% in active travel journeys, the region could:
- boost the regional economy by around £350 million a year
- greatly reduce carbon emissions – saving around 80,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year
- prevent approximately 1,000 premature deaths – primarily due to increased physical activity levels for those who choose to travel actively
To achieve the ambitions of this strategy, we will work in collaboration with central government, Active Travel England, and local people. The £500 million package of schemes and interventions included would help to encourage more people to travel actively more often and identifies investments that would better connect these journeys to local transport stations and interchanges. It is hoped this would help more people use active travel for at least part of their journey.
