How are the SNP encouraging active travel?

Our Active Nation initiative is designed to ensure more of us choose to make every-day journeys on foot or by bike. That’s good for our health and good for the environment too.

We’re doubling investment in active travel from £40 million to £80 million per year. That will mean that, per head of population, spending on walking and cycling will be more than double the level in England (excluding London) and around three times more than in Wales. 

We’ll also appoint an Active Nation Commissioner to ensure the delivery of world class infrastructure projects for pedestrians and cyclists.

We have already announced that Inverness, Stirling, Glasgow and Edinburgh will receive grants totalling more than £22 million to support the construction of ambitious walking and cycling infrastructure projects as part of the Community Links Plus project.

We have more than doubled the Community Links Fund, which supports the introduction of new walking and cycling infrastructure. £36 million will be made available in 2018/19 – the highest  amount since it was launched in 2010.

Active travel offers important physical and mental health benefits for young and old. That’s why we’re supporting a national roll-out of the Cycling Without Age scheme and encouraging people to return to cycling by promoting the use of power-assisted electric bikes.

To further enhance Scotland’s reputation as an Active Nation, work will begin on developing a long distance walking and cycling route, similar to the successful North Coast 500.