NATURAL ENGLAND'S RESEARCH REPORT

'What motivates people to participate in organised walking activities'

Please click here to read the report (pdf 542 kb)

LATEST RESOURCES

Please find a link to a PDF Doc (268KB) by Dr.Adrian Davis 'Value For Money: An economic assessment of investment in walking and cycling' March 2010 click here

Please find the link to a short PDF document (159KB) Promoting Activity Toolkit
from the Department of Health here The note sets out how you can link the search tool to your own websites or add your activities into the exisiting search tool. The search tool encompasses variety of physical options and is being promoted as an option for patients following their 'Lets Get Moving' brief intervention.

Latest International Literature Review on Walking and Cycling

The Victorian Transport Department in Australia has published this latest literature review of walking and cycling. Please click on the underlined text to read the PDF document (3.31 MB).

Interesting findings for walking include a suggestion that encouraging cycling can result in a decline in walking and hence overall physical activity levels.

Evidence-base for walking

Sir Muir Gray's 'National Campaign for Walking' (click on underlined text to take you to the website) now has its own website with all the evidence about the health benefits of walking.

NHS Camden Walking Maps

How do you get sedentary people to take exercise?  There is no easy answe, but NHS Camden is working with Walk England and The Access Company to pilot a project to do just that.  The project uses well designed maps to show people where they can walk, and to encourage them to improve their fitness.  The maps are available in a tear off pad format through GPs, health professionals and community places.  Copies of the series of 5 maps can be downloaded here (click on the maps below).  Please give us your feedback on them!

Bloomsbury map

Kings Cross map

Walks around the Royal Free map

Kentish Town map

 Let's get technical...!!  As well as the much talked about Street View application, Google Maps has also now launched a new application where you can view the Underground Overground.  Great for choosing to walk instead of ride on a stuffy train on a fine day!

If you have an iphone or latest android phone, you can also use Google's 'My Tracks' to track your walks, download them, share them and keep a record of your activity, including distance, speed etc.  Check it out here.

The Travel Footprint Click here for the website. This a new site that enables people to calculate and compare the life-cycle environmental impacts of different methods of travelling in the UK. The tool also offers a detailed searchable comparison of the emissions of new and used vehicles according to manufacturer, model, fuel or engine type.

Car Free Walks have received the accolade of Highly Commended in the 'Best Green Campaigner' category at the prestigious Green Awards 2009. This website has been set up by a group of keen walkers who are concerned about the environmental impacts of driving cars to walks and the lack of information about alternatives to car transport. Click here for more information. 

Be Active can supply step-o-meters and workplace resources packs for encouraging walking. Click here for more information and prices.

A new NHS initiative called Think Feet First has been launched to inspire us to stop and think about how we make short journeys. Think Feet First are providing, in partnership with Natural England, 16 Walking Ambassador walking roadshow schemes in a number of London boroughs. So if you're interested in going on a led walk in your local community download their walking calendar to find a walk in your area.

Also as part of the Think Feet First campaign 47 local projects are being run by local NHS Primary Care Trusts and Trusts to encourage staff to get more active.

Change4Life's Promoting Activity Toolkit
 
Change4Life now offers a fantasitc Promoting Activity toolkit for registered users (you can join here or find out more on the Change4Life website). To bring the Change4Life movement to life in your area, the toolkit includes:

• Hundreds of photos
• An online design tool to help you create Change 4 Life posters and flyers
• Calenders of campaigns to help you plan when to do your marketing
• An activity search tool to help you make it easier for the public to find their local activity.

ASTUTE is a European-funded project with the aim of identifying, understanding and overcoming the barriers to sustainable travel.  It's website has a very useful toolkit which details the main barriers and offers best-practice examples of how to overcome them.

Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A toolkit for developing local strategies (PDF File 2.91MB) Click here to access the tookit. It is to help PCTs and Local Authorities plan, coordinate and implement comprehensive strategies to prevent and manage overweight and obesity.  It provides information and tools including useful statistics, practical initiatives, evidence of effectiveness, checklists, frameworks and examples of good practice.  It is an update on the previous toolkit: Lightening the Load - Tackling Overweight and Obesity:A toolkit for developing local strategies.  There are new tools that provide a breakdown of the cost of obesity to every PCT.

Walking in London The PDF Doc (4.87MB) document provides key findings from a review of over 60 studies connected with walking, ranging from qualitative research to large scale travel surveys such as the LTDS (London Travel Demand Survey).

DfT Mapping Guidance The Department for Transport has launched its 'Mapping Guidance'.  Newcastle and Gateshead  as a PDF Doc (1.26MB) has also produced more detail of its new city centre mapping system.

Promoting Physical Activity for all Abilities Information pack developed by Kinect Australia in June 2008. Download the full version of the  Information Pack PDF (497 KB) or the summary page by clicking on Promoting Physical Activity for All Abilities

Resources

To look after the needs of people who want to walk more for their health, to travel or to relax requires people from a range of disciplines to work together, share their skills and expertise and commit to a common people – centered framework. 
 
Generally it is those parts of England that have established an interdisciplinary partnership and talked to people walking who have been able to then secure a more ambitious vision and higher levels of funding to enhance the quality of the local walking experience. I.e. the greater the commitment to walking, the nicer the place is to walk!

We believe partnerships can be instigated by either walkers themselves or the professionals responsible for supporting their needs. In any circumstance they are more likely to succeed if there is a relationship with both and time spent early on understanding who is walking locally, to where, why and when as well as how nice it is. The benefits of future investment can then be quantified and promoted more visibly.
 
Walk England are happy to bring experts together to help set up local partnerships and have dedicated this area of the website to provide information to make sure they are effective.
 
Please follow the links to more information on walking statistics, training, and best practice notes  to help develop an effective local walking partnership and people – centered framework for improving the quality of the local walking experience.

If you have examples of initiatives that you are proud of please send them to us so that we can share them with others and help inspire more local partnerships to get set up and active