Pedal-Powered Planning

As the planning system is reformed, we need MPs to wake up to the importance that new developments enable active travel choices. Cycling UK, alongside MPs and partner organisations, are proposing core amendments making cycling & walking infrastructure and rights of way improvements fundamental to development plans, and ensure local authorities are bound to make this happen

Let's put people at the heart of the planning system

Cycling UK, alongside MPs, proposed amendments to the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill, to achieve a planning system which supports the climate and prioritises cycling and walking.

Over 1500 supporters wrote to their MP using our online action, asking that they support these amendments. A massive thank-you to all of you!

Despite these efforts, the Government shrugged off these proposals, and indeed everything else put forward by the Better Planning Coalition (BPC) and its member organisations.

They're still opportunities on the horizon where Cycling UK, alongside the BPC, hope to influence planning legislation to make new developments cycle-friendly. For a full update, please see this blog.

Cartoon showing the connotations of planning decisions and transport choice

Why campaign for better planning?

The UK is amidst a house-building boom. However, most new developments are designing for car dependency and planning for poor health.

What we're building is as many car parks as we are homes, embedding lifestyles in which we are forced to drive everywhere, with congestion, road danger and physical inactivity rife across our communities.

This crisis is not the fault of homeowners, but the nature of flawed legislation. The absence of a robust planning system has repeatedly failed to incentivise developers to provide basic active travel infrastructure in new estates. But this can change.

At Cycling UK, we're calling for Pedal-Powered Planning, to place people at the heart of the planning system and enable walking and cycling for everyday journeys. People deserve to buy a house in an area where they have choice - we need future developments to allow residents to walk, cycle and drive.

New housing in a car-dependent location (photo cc Roger Kidd)
Message to Parliament: we need Pedal-Powered Planning now! Message to Parliament: we need Pedal-Powered Planning now! View
Congested roads in bristol with cars and lorrys in a stationary queue
Pedal-powered Planning: Frequently asked questions Pedal-powered Planning: Frequently asked questions View
Cycling in a new housing development
Coalition launches vision for healthy planning Coalition launches vision for healthy planning View
Designing for car dependency – planning for poor health Designing for car dependency – planning for poor health View

Working together to create healthier, happier neighbourhoods

Cycling UK is proud to be a part of The Better Planning Coalition (BPC), which represents 29 organisations across the environment, housing, planning, heritage, and transport sectors. The BPC understands the unequivocal links between today’s pressing social and environmental issues and the ability and potential of the planning system to tackle these in the round.

Cycling UK endorse the aims of amendments proposed by the BPC.