Agenda

(1)           An active transport strategy for Harrow Motion

To be moved by Councillor Eden Kulig and seconded by Councillor Paul Osborn:

“This Council acknowledges that all Harrow residents, whether they drive or not, have a shared interest in ensuring that a range of active travel options exist across the borough, and that supporting residents to make active transport choices where possible has beneficial effects for individuals, neighbourhoods and the borough as a whole.

Council Notes:

·       The Leader’s statement on 10 January 2023 that he wishes to see a ‘more unified cycle network’ across the borough and welcomes this commitment to improving the borough’s cycling infrastructure.

·       The Leader of the Council is the appointed representative on the Harrow Cycling Hub.

·       According to TfL statistics, 31% of Harrow households do not own a car.

·       That according to Harrow’s Annual Public Health report of 2021, 54.8% of Harrow residents are overweight or obese, and 24.6% of adults do less than 30 minutes of physical activity a week, and that the most effective way for Harrow Council’s Public Health team to support increased physical activity for these groups would be to promote ways for them to incorporate walking and cycling into their daily routines.

·       That as per the Education Act 1996, all local authorities in England have a statutory duty to support active travel choices for school children.

·       That many residents face challenges to incorporate cycling into their daily journeys around the borough due to factors including a lack of safe and unified cycle routes, and a lack of storage space for bikes within or near their homes or at tube stations.

·       That the administration has pledged in its flagship actions to create safe and secure cycle parking at Harrow-on-the-Hill by May 2024.

Council believes that:-

·       Supporting residents who choose to make active transport choices for short journeys around the borough will reduce air pollution, ease traffic, reduce pressures on parking and make our streets safer for children and more peaceful for all residents.

·       Walking and cycling is a significant contributor to public health and wellbeing, and with NHS guidelines advocating that all adults take moderate exercise each day, the easiest way to achieve this is through individuals incorporating walking and cycling into their daily routines.

·       Harrow’s cycling infrastructure is not currently sufficiently unified, and that it would be beneficial for cycle routes across the borough to be better linked, more separate from roads, and with their signage improved.

·       That a lack of secure storage for cycles can discourage people from owning and using a cycle.

This Council resolves to:

•Request that officers:

• Work in consultation with groups such as Harrow Cyclists, Healthy Streets for Harrow, and the Harrow Cycling Hub, to investigate the feasibility of creating a more unified cycling network across the borough, with cycle routes better linked across the borough, more separate from roads  ...  view the full agenda text for item 13.