Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to provide funding for well-lit, connected and protected cycling infrastructure in Eastleigh.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Active Travel England (ATE) recognises that high‑quality active travel routes must be well-designed, well-lit and safe to support walking, wheeling and cycling.
On 10 December, the Department announced £626 million of multi-year capability funding to support active travel across England. As part of this allocation, Hampshire County Council, of which Eastleigh is a part, will receive £23,094,356 for the period 2026/27 to 2029/30. Local authorities may use this funding to plan and deliver well‑designed route layouts, appropriate and inclusive lighting, and safety improvements such as segregated cycle lanes.
ATE also provides technical support and guidance to ensure local authorities deliver high‑quality schemes. National guidance, including Local Transport Note 1/20: Cycle Infrastructure Design, Manual for Streets, and Inclusive Mobility, sets clear expectations for the design of safe and accessible cycling infrastructure.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to deliver well designed, well lit and safe cycling infrastructure in Stratford-on-Avon.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Active Travel England (ATE) recognises that high‑quality active travel routes must be well-designed, well-lit and safe to support walking, wheeling and cycling.
On 10 December, the Department announced £626 million of multi-year capability funding to support active travel across England. As part of this allocation, Warwickshire County Council, of which Stratford‑on‑Avon is a part, will receive £9,840,039 for the period 2026/27 to 2029/30. Local authorities may use this funding to plan and deliver well‑designed route layouts, appropriate and inclusive lighting, and safety improvements such as segregated cycle lanes and safer junction treatments.
ATE also provides technical support and guidance to ensure local authorities deliver high‑quality schemes. National guidance, including Local Transport Note 1/20: Cycle Infrastructure Design, Manual for Streets, and Inclusive Mobility, sets clear expectations for the design of safe and accessible cycling infrastructure.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of disparities in physical activity levels within individual constituencies, and how these disparities are addressed in national health policy.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on the percentage of physically active adults is published in the Public Health Outcomes Framework. The data is not published at constituency level, but rather at a national level and for local authorities. Further information is available at the following link:
https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/public-health-outcomes-framework/data
As committed to in the 10-Year Health Plan, we aim to address physically inactivity and help build movement into everyday lives through investing in grassroots sports, developing a new Physical Education and school sports partnership network to support children to reap the benefits of movement, and supporting cycling and walking infrastructure.
The NHS Better Health Campaign promotes ways for people of all ages to move more, and signposts to digital support like the NHS Couch to 5k and the NHS Active 10 walking app, providing free and accessible ways of building movement into everyday life.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Department for Transport guidance entitled Cycle infrastructure design (LTN 1/20), published on 27 July 2020, whether he plans to revise (a) the National Planning Policy Framework and (b) guidance to require new residential and mixed-use developments to provide high-quality permeability for walking and cycling.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that transport issues should be considered from the earliest stages of plan-making and development proposals, using a vision-led approach to identify transport solutions that deliver well-designed, sustainable, and popular places. This should involve identifying and pursuing opportunities to promote walking and cycling.
The Framework also outlines that when assessing sites that may be allocated in local development plans, or specific development applications, it should be ensured that sustainable transport modes are prioritised taking account of the vision for the site, the type of development and its location, and that safe and suitable access to the site can be achieved for all users. Within this context, applications for development should give priority first to pedestrian and cycle movements, both within the scheme and with neighbouring areas, and should create places that are safe, secure, and attractive and which minimise scope for conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles.
We are currently consulting on changes to the Framework, including updated policies on sustainable transport which seek to further embed a vision-led approach to transport planning. The consultation will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026 and can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to promote active and healthy lifestyles among pensioners, including through access to affordable physical activity and active travel.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that reducing physical inactivity and promoting active, healthy lifestyles in people of all ages, including among pensioners, is important in helping people live longer, healthier lives, and is a key part of the Department’s shift from treatment to prevention.
The NHS Better Health Campaign promotes ways for people of all ages to move more, and signposts to digital support like the NHS Active 10 walking and NHS Couch to 5k app.
The Department supports the National Health Service, together with local authorities, to provide a range of community and social prescribing approaches to support older people, such as walking groups and aquatic/swimming classes.
The Government is promoting active and healthy lifestyles among pensioners through investment in walking and cycling infrastructure and community-based programmes that make active travel safer and more accessible for older adults, and has recently closed its consultation on the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, due to be published next year.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to support modal shift to lower emissions from the transport sector.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is supporting people to make more sustainable travel choices by improving public transport services and active travel infrastructure deployment.
The Bus Services Act 2025 puts the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of communities. The Government has reaffirmed its commitment to investing in bus services by confirming over £3 billion from 2026/27 over the rest of the spending review period to support local leaders and bus operators across the country to improve bus services for millions of passengers.
For active travel, we are allocating £626 million up to 2030 for local authorities to deliver walking and cycling schemes, and we will be publishing the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy in the spring.
To incentivise the shift of freight away from more polluting modes, the Mode Shift Revenue Support grant continues to encourage the movement of freight by rail or inland waterway instead of road, where journeys by rail or inland waterway would otherwise be more expensive.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of regional variations in the level of public transport provision on (a) the number of people who rely on cars and (b) levels of rural poverty.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government knows how important reliable public transport services are in enabling people to stay connected and access education, work and vital services across the country. We also know that local bus services can be a lifeline in rural areas and can be the only means for communities to stay connected.
The Government is taking ambitious steps to improve local bus services across the country, including introducing the Bus Services Act 2025 which puts passenger needs, reliable services and local accountability at the heart of local bus services by putting the power back in the hands of local leaders right across England.
We also recently confirmed long-term investment of over £3 billion from 2026/27 to support local leaders and bus operators across the country to improve bus services for millions of passengers. This includes multi-year allocations for local authorities under the Local Authority Bus Grant (LABG) totalling nearly £700 million per year, ending the short-term approach to bus funding and giving councils the certainty they need to plan ahead to improve services for local communities. LABG allocations have been calculated using a fair and transparent approach that considers population size, levels of deprivation, the extent of existing bus services, and rurality.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority will be allocated £133.5 million under the LABG from 2026/27 to 2028/29. This is in addition to the £46.8 million they are already receiving under the LABG this financial year.
The Department for Transport has developed and published a Connectivity Tool to measure people’s ability to get where they want and need to go, using walking, cycling and public transport to reach jobs, shops, schools, healthcare and other essential services in any location in England and Wales. The Connectivity Tool combines transport and land use data to generate a national measure of connectivity and provides new insights to those developing new transport schemes or planning for growth to more easily understand how new transport infrastructure can impact an area’s connectivity.
As announced in the Child Poverty Strategy, published on 5 December 2025, the Government will also develop a transport poverty tool, which will aim to capture where poor transport connectivity and affordability limits people’s access to employment and essential services.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are providing to Oxfordshire County Council to develop and build the proposed Greenway route between Thame and Haddenham and Thame Parkway Station.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Spending Review in June 2025, which covers multiple years from 2026/27 onwards, allocated £616 million for Active Travel England to support local authorities to build and maintain walking, wheeling, and cycling infrastructure including dedicated cycling routes. This comes on top of £222.5 million announced in February 2025 for local authorities over 2024/25-25/26.
Active Travel funding supports local transport authorities with developing and constructing walking, wheeling and cycling facilities. Oxfordshire County Council has received £2,650,279 from the Consolidated Active travel fund 2025/6. However, it is up to local authorities to determine and put forward their local active travel infrastructure priorities for funding. As yet, ATE has not been asked to provide design assurance for this potential scheme.
ATE work closely with local authorities to ensure walking, wheeling and cycling routes are safe and accessible. ATE regularly provide design assurance services to local authorities who are planning and designing improvements to new or existing active travel facilities.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, further to the £616 million capital allocation for active travel announced on 3 November, if she will publish a breakdown of that funding by programme, scheme and spending category, including the amount allocated to each and the expected outputs or purposes for which those allocations are intended.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
In the Spending Review we announced that we are allocating £616 million for Active Travel England from 2026-27 to 2029-30 to support local authorities to build and maintain walking and cycling infrastructure. Further details concerning specific programmes and revenue funding will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to improve cycling connectivity between rural towns and villages.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Spending Review in June 2025 allocated £616 million for Active Travel England to support local authorities to build and maintain walking and cycling infrastructure from over the years 2026/27 to 2029/30. This comes on top of £222.5 million announced in February 2025 for local authorities over 2024/25-25/26, which can be used by authorities to improve cycling connectivity between rural towns and villages.
Active Travel England’s Rural Design Guidance (RDG) is currently in its final development stages and is expected to be published by the end of the year. The RDG will support authorities in delivering active travel routes both within rural settlements and between them by providing tailored guidance and support. Active Travel England currently works with local authorities during the design stage of active travel projects to increase design standards and embed guidance.