Mayor Steve Rotheram has joined a coalition of eleven of England’s Combined Authority Mayors in signing an ambitious joint statement pledging to create a national active travel network, enabling millions of happier, healthier and greener journeys across the country.

Launching in Autumn 2025, the new programme will begin with Mayoral Combined Authorities agreeing an initial network of 3,500 miles of safer routes connecting housing to schools and high streets, targeting areas where health and air quality are poorest.

Mayor Rotheram has pledging to deliver a 600km network of new and upgraded walking and cycling routes across all six borough of the Liverpool City Region – Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral.

To date the Combined Authority has invested more than £150m in active travel infrastructure, with more than 148km of footpaths and cycleways delivered to date and dozens more schemes currently in planning and construction.

The new national initiative will help more than 20 million people across the country to become more physically active, supporting the Government’s Plan for Change as well as easing pressure on the NHS and boosting growth. The new routes and projects will focus on prevention rather than cure by building health and wellbeing into everyday activities.

The multi-region project will begin work in around 1,000 schools, creating 300 safer routes for people walking, wheeling and cycling.

Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram said:

“In the Liverpool City Region, we’ve already delivered miles of safer routes and introduced more school streets to help take the stress out of the school run – but this is just the beginning.

“Whether it’s nipping to the shops, heading to work, or walking the kids to school, we’re making it easier for people to get about without having to jump in the car. It’s better for your health, your wallet – and it helps clean up the air we all breathe. For me, this is about giving families across our region more choice in how they travel, and making sure those choices are safe, simple and work for everyone.”

The Local Transport Minister, Simon Lightwood, said:

“I know I am one of many who enjoy the physical and mental health benefits that come with walking or cycling to work or school.

“That’s why this Government is investing £616m over the next four years, on top of £300m announced in February, to give more people around the country high quality and healthy ways to get around, and supporting Mayors’ plans to create a joined-up network.

“It is a key part of our Plan for Change, boosting local businesses, growing local economies and easing pressure on the NHS.”

National Active Travel Commissioner, Chris Boardman, said:

“Our regional leaders have today marked the start of an exciting chapter, by pledging to give people across the country more transport choice. We know that more walking, wheeling and cycling will improve our countries mental and physical health, but it will do much more; it’s the foundation for thriving integrated public transport networks, it increases access to work, boosting local economic growth and it will give millions of children more independence. People will only consider traveling actively if it is easy and safe. That’s what the Mayors have today pledged to do and that’s why Government is backing them. It’s going to have a hugely positive impact on millions of people’s daily lives.”

As part of the agreement the Mayors have committed to:

2. Work with the Department for Transport, Active Travel England and local authorities to create a country-wide national walking, wheeling and cycling network, comprising of local networks that are safe and easy to use. This will give their regions’ 20 million residents access to high quality, safe routes in their communities.
4. Transform the school run by delivering high-quality, safer routes in neighbourhoods nationwide.
6. Boost regional integrated transport networks by giving people easy walking, wheeling and cycling access to buses, trams and trains which will link to new housing and support local economic growth.

The initiative comes as recent research shows one in six early deaths could be prevented with regular moderate exercise. Meanwhile, a study from 2023/24 found that, in England, 35.8% of year 6 children were overweight or living with obesity, with 22.1% living with obesity.

Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty said:

“Increasing physical activity has health benefits across the life course. As part of this, we need to make walking and cycling more accessible, and safer, as well as access to green space easier and more equitable. This will help remove barriers to improving physical activity levels and could significantly improve the health of England’s increasingly urban population.”

The first wave of improving active travel routes to schools will include the delivery of proven and popular schemes, including school streets, traffic calming measures, new crossings and better pavements, clear of obstructions.

Regional mayors will lead local implementation with interventions tailored to their communities’ needs and develop programmes to enable more active travel, such as walking and cycling buses for children.

The programme will be delivered using regional resources with additional targeted investment from Active Travel England, improving efficiency by combining separate funding streams in a mission-led approach.

Alongside Mayor Rotheram other signatories to the pledge include Greater Manchester’s Mayor Andy Burnham, West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin, Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Paul Bristow, South Yorkshire’s Oliver Coppard, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, York and North Yorkshire’s David Skaith, the North East’s Kim McGuinness, the West Midlands’ Richard Parker and the East of England’s Claire Ward.