Activity for wellbeing and success

Get Active: Kingston exercise referral scheme

The Kingston Get Active exercise referral programme has successfully been helping those who live, work and study in Kingston to become more physically active since 2008. As an extension to the current range of physical activity opportunities provided by the referral programme, teams from Kingston’s public health department and sustainable travel joined forces to develop an innovative solution to support the wider active travel agenda to patients referred to the programme through a cycling for health project.  By utilising the expertise and resources from both teams, patients can feel confident that they are receiving the proper care and training by qualified and competent staff in a safe environment.

Helen Millier, Senior Cycling Instructor & Coordinator, Sustainable Transport, Kingston & Sutton Shared Environment Service, Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames

POSITIVE SPIN

Launched in July 2015, Positive Spin is a ground-breaking project funded by Lambeth Council which looks to enable people with dementia to cycle, and assessed the role learning and practising cycling has in acquiring new skills. A team of four Cycle Training UK cycling instructors (including a psychotherapist experienced in developing therapeutic interventions for people with dementia) delivers the sessions. Initially an 8-week programme at Clapham Common, Positive Spin rolled out in Lambeth and Hackney in Spring 2016, and includes ‘Cycle’ shows to care homes in many London boroughs. We are planning to offer this programme as a social franchise so people across the country can enjoy the benefits. Cycling is a skill which is learnt and carried out through ‘procedural’ memory, which is often unimpaired in people with a diagnosis of dementia. 

David Dansky, Head of Training & Development, Cycle Training UK

CYCLING FOR BETTER PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH

UK case study and end-user data insights from Love to Ride, a global social business and experts in cycling behaviour change. Since 2002, they have created and continue to develop the best online platform and local programmes, using the latest GPS app technology and using a fun, engaging and accessible brand to generate high levels of interest. Love to Ride collect everyday cycle trip data, using this to help inform local planning departments on their infrastructure development projects. This data also helps determine behaviour change and health impacts and outcomes. This talk will develop insight using rich data from our UK and overseas projects. Data sets are collected at various points in the project life-cycle.

Sam Robinson, General Manager, Love to Ride

BEYOND THE BICYCLE FOR DISABLED PEOPLE 

Why are we not encouraging more disabled people to take up cycling? There is a myth that disabled people can’t or don’t cycle. This isn’t correct. According to TfL, in London alone 15% of disabled people sometimes use a cycle to get around, compared to 18% of non-disabled people. However, as our own research has revealed disabled people are still overwhelmingly likely to be seen by local authorities as non-cyclists (e.g. pedestrians or car drivers) than as cyclists (or even potential cyclists).  Yet the health impact of more disabled people cycling could be huge. For example, when asked if their health had improved as a result of attending inclusive cycling sessions, 90% of our participants agreed, whilst a further 80% said it made up half of their weekly exercise. Given that disabled people are half as likely as non-disabled people to be active, it is clear that cycling can provide a form of regular exercise and active travel for those more likely to lead sedentary lifestyles. Cycling is non-weight bearing and therefore often easier than walking; it enables disabled people to get regular access to the outdoors and to connect with their community, and in turn reduces social isolation and improves mental wellbeing. Cycling can also support people’s recovery from episodes of ill-health (complementing rehabilitative medicine).

Isabelle Clement, Director, Wheels for Wellbeing

Cycling Without Age (CWA) in the UK 

CWA is an initiative started in Copenhagen by Ole Kassow: it gives the opportunity for volunteers to take elderly care-home patients on electric taxi bikes. After its initial success in Denmark, it has now been established in more than 25 countries around the world. The initiative has five Guiding Principles: Generosity, Slow Riding, Storytelling, Relationships, All Ages.
In London there are two CWA initiatives: Lambeth Council, in collaboration with CycleTrainingUK, has one taxi-bike and a side-by-side. Time & Talents, in Southwark, has three taxi-bikes. The elderly passengers enjoy these rides immensely; it is a chance to be out, feeling the wind in the hair and talk to someone, generally of a different generation. For the volunteers also, the experience of taking an elderly passenger for a ride is a very rewarding experience, giving the opportunity to hear stories about the local area. At present more than 200 chapters around the world offer Cycling Without Age from well over 1,000 taxi bikes – and the numbers are still growing. More than 6,000 pilots ensure that the elderly get out of their nursing homes, out on the bikes to enjoy the fresh air and the community around them.

Andrea Casalotti, Cargobike Life CIC

TVP Travel: Maintaining a successful Business Travel Network

Since its formation in 2009 the Business Travel Network at Thames Valley Park, Wokingham has become an exemplar model for successful business engagement and securing private sector investment in sustainable travel. Developed in partnership from across the public and private sectors, the network has delivered widespread multi-modal promotion and investment in targeted initiatives focussed on user need. A business case tool has been developed and applied to provide transparency over health, environmental and savings against set programmes of investment.
 
Now branded TVP Travel, the network has achieved positive outcomes, underpinned by a sustainable private sector funding model for the long term and aspirations for further expansion. This was recognised with TVP Travel being awarded ‘Best Workplace Travel Plan’ at the 2016 Smarter Travel Awards.
 
Andy Winmill, Smarter Travel Team, WSP|Parsons Brinckerhoff and Board Director, Act TravelWise

Street Pockets: Reclaiming Street Spaces

Street Pockets are spaces for sitting, socialising with your neighbours, chatting with friends, playing, art, or just making your street greener and more active. They have been created by local residents converting one or two car parking spaces into a public space that the whole of the community can enjoy. Learn more about how Sustrans empowered local communities to improve the public space outside their front doors during Bristol’s year as Green Capital in 2015.

In 2015, Sustrans supported local communities in Bristol to take action and reclaim street space, recruiting local champions and provide the training required to engage with their neighbours and set up Street Pockets in their streets

Paola Spivach, Head of Design and Engineering England South, Sustrans

Green Travel Districts 

Green Travel Districts offer a vision of specific areas where there is a concentration of people living and working, to create an environment where people are put before cars, where residents, workers and visitors can safely walk, cycle or take public transport, and for districts with less congestion, less pollution, fewer accidents, and healthier, safer, more productive communities. Mark will outline how Green Travel Districts are being pioneered with Birmingham City Council, work with local stakeholders to promote sustainable active travel at key district centres around the city.

Mark Nettleton, Director, Phil Jones Associates