As part of the council’s wider Transport Strategy, the draft Action Plan helps make the borough’s neighbourhoods safer, less polluted and a more pleasant place to live and work for the whole community.

The Action Plan sets out the council’s vision over the next decade, to promote walking and cycling as natural choices, increase active travel opportunities to improve the wellbeing of all of our residents, reduce obesity, improve air quality and to reduce motor vehicle use for short trips.

The Action Plan outlines how the council will make the borough’s high streets cleaner and nicer to visit, encouraging more people to shop locally, boosting the local economy and supporting a green recovery from the pandemic.

Enabling journeys currently made by car (a key source of carbon emissions) to be walked, cycled or made by public transport helps us tackle the climate crisis. This also tackles social injustices where the majority of residents with no access to a car disproportionally suffer from pollution and are more likely to be killed and seriously injured on our roads. More walking and cycling brings benefits to everyone and helps our communities and businesses to thrive.

In order to achieve this vision, the council has outlined the key areas where the Action Plan will be implemented:

• Walking: The council aims to introduce high-quality local walking routes to make it easier to travel around the borough on foot. This work will include improved footways, even surfaces, clutter-free streets, better streetlighting and safer crossing options. This will be supported with improved signage and wayfinding.
• Cycling: The council will expand its current cycling infrastructure to create an extensive network of attractive and safe cycling routes covering all parts of the borough. This will be implemented alongside cycle training for residents who want to learn and access to secure and high-quality cycle parking facilities.
• Reallocating road space to prioritise pavement users and cyclists: The council will ensure pavement users and cyclists are put first in the hierarchy of ‘transport modes’ followed by public transport, electric vehicles and then motor vehicles. This ensures that more sustainable transport modes are given priority, which benefits everyone.
• Air Quality and Climate Change: The council will support a green recovery from the pandemic through the reduction of motor vehicle journeys in the borough and an increase in journeys made via an active travel method. LTNs and School Streets will also play a major road in driving down exposure to air pollution and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from transport. This will ultimately reduce our overall carbon footprint. This work will also support wider initiatives to improve air quality and support the health of residents as per the council’s Climate Change Action Plan.
• Health and wellbeing: Haringey, like the rest of the UK, is in the midst of an inactivity crisis. Changes to how we work, how we travel, and other social changes have had a major impact on our daily physical activity. We need to build physical activity back into our lives and routine. Enabling more journeys to be made in Haringey by walking and cycling will achieve this.

The Action Plan will also tackle social injustice, particularly for those who don’t have access to a motor vehicle, increasing access to a safer and cleaner outside environment, whether to walk, cycle, play or rest.

Formal public consultation on the draft Action Plan will begin later this year.

Cllr White, Cabinet Member for Planning and Corporate Services at Haringey Council, said:

“I’m really pleased to see the launch of this Walking and Cycling Action Plan and we will soon be engaging with residents and businesses to hear their views. The Action Plan will set the policy framework for our ambitious programme to enable more trips currently made by car to be made on foot or by bike.

“This Action Plan seeks to bring our community together by improving our streets to create a safe and accessible environment for everyone. The aim is to normalise active travel, address health inequalities, improve air quality and respond to the climate emergency by reducing carbon emissions. In the process we will make the borough a safer, less polluted and more pleasant place to live and work for everyone.

“The Action Plan sits alongside our work on high street recovery and will support a green recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic by encouraging people to shop local and making our high streets more inviting places to visit.“