Neighbourhood Accessibility and Active Travel

Neighbourhoods are advocated in UK planning policy in order to foster social capital, combat obesity and reduce transport greenhouse emissions. The new agenda of localism reinforces this move. Yet travel behaviour trends, and the continuing decline of local facilities, are working in the opposite direction. A review of earlier research points to gaps in our empirical knowledge and uncertainties about the degree to which spatial policy can influence behaviour and 'create' viable neighbourhoods. This paper examines the pattern of access to local facilities, and the factors which influence it, reporting on the results of a household survey in 12 suburban and exurban localities in four English cities. The focus is particularly on modal choice, comparing the behaviour of different social groups in different situations. The findings point to the danger of assuming all communities and places are alike. The degree of local use of facilities, and the level of active travel to get to them, varies widely by type of facility, social group, location and character of place. Attitudes stated by respondents are a poor predictor of behaviour, but cultural attitudes of whole communities are important. Implications for planning policy are drawn out.