Tom Franklin, Chief Executive of Living Streets, makes some sound points about the link between obesity and the local environment over on the New Start blog:
"The key to cutting back obesity, I think, is all around us in our local environment. As the Nice report says, the key to reducing obesity is to make walking and cycling the method of choice as we leave our homes each morning. We need to be designing new developments with a clear view to make it easy to walk to local amenities... let’s look at where people want to walk to and ensure networks are provided to encourage them"
It just seems so obvious - but so many areas fail at even basic connectivity. This afternoon I needed to travel to Rochdale town centre by train. It's a ten minute walk from the station - and I nearly died twice. No pedestrian crossings in sensible locations and hardly any signage for the walker. And Rochdale is far from being alone.
The Target: well-being bid to the Big Lottery Fund which aims to being £10m to the region for wellbeing projects will include a raft of projects that aim to get people active. Encouraging and supporting people to get active is hugely important - but we'll only make the habit stick for everyone if our neighbourhoods begin to be designed for active living rather than for the car. That means paths that actually go where people want to walk - and that are safe and maintained.
It's not all bad news for pedestrians in Rochdale though - the restoration of Broadfield Park looks to be gathering pace. This magnificent park will soon be a fantastic asset for the town (and once the steps are fixed, a great short cut to the station...)
