Leading the way for accessible walking and wheeling

Walking and wheeling for short journeys is good for our health and the environment but we often face barriers that prevent us from using our streets and pavements.  

Our Schools Coordinator Chloe Dobson tells us about a project in South Ayrshire that worked with local communities in Scotland to make walking and wheeling accessible options for all residents. 

Living Streets Scotland’s Walking Places project ran over two years and took an intergenerational approach in South Ayrshire, working with five schools and the communities around them to understand how people move about and to support them to choose to walk or wheel more of their local journeys. The project was funded through the Active Nation Fund from Paths for All. 

Following discussions with residents, we developed action plans for specific locations to tackle the issues that had been raised. 

In Troon, a town and seaport in South Ayrshire, traffic congestion, speeding vehicles and unsafe crossings near local schools meant that parents tended to drive their children to and from school. In fact, residents relied heavily on cars with 63% driving for journeys under 1km and only 49% walking for everyday journeys. 

There were also safety issues for pedestrians and tenants at a nearby sheltered housing, especially those with limited mobility. The main road is challenging as there is no dedicated crossing point and cars park on either side of the road. Some tenants felt isolated and reluctant to visit local shops, cafes and social venues on high street. Many of them were having to pay for taxis or rely on family or friends to take them to the large supermarkets. 

Uneven and sometimes partially missing pavements in some areas also created walking hazards while poor lighting on paths discouraged walking in the evenings and winter months. 

Living Streets set up a working group with local councillors, local community organisations, representatives from the local authority, local schools, Police Scotland and Ayrshire Roads Alliance to address these barriers to walking and wheeling.  

Discussions with the community highlighted the need for ongoing educational campaigns to promote safe parking around the school gates and provide routes safer walking routes for pupils and their families as well as tenants and other pedestrians. 

We worked with school communities in Troon to engage children and their families, and five schools in the area launched WOW – our walk to school challenge f, which rewards those who walk, wheel, cycle, scoot or ‘Park and Stride’ to school with a WOW badge.   

I also wanted to address the concerns and anxiety raised by the sheltered housing development tenants and tackle their barriers to crossing the main road, which was limiting their freedom to walk and wheel in Troon.  

We took the 20-minute neighbourhoods approach to influence for meaningful change in parents' and community travel choices and behaviours to encourage people to walk, wheel or cycle for short local journeys. 

A tenant told me that “it’s good to know the Council are now listening to how difficult it is to cross Academy Street”. 

And Troon Councillor Bob Pollock said: 

“Thanks to the work of the Troon Walking Places Working Group and the research carried out by Living Streets within the community, I now have a much clearer understanding of some of the challenges around encouraging more people to become involved in active travel - and some of the solutions which may help”.