Memorandum by Living Streets (OB 69)
INTRODUCTION
Living Streets (formerly the Pedestrians Association)
is pleased to submit evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee
Inquiry into Obesity. We are a national charity that champions
improvements in streets and public spaces for people on foot.
We campaign to create safe, vibrant and healthy streets. We believe
vibrant streets, which are accessible and enjoyable for people
who walk, help to revitalise neighbourhoods and reconnect people
to their local areas. By creating the right walking environment
people will be encouraged to walk further and more often, which
will be beneficial to their health and well-being. One of the
campaigns which Living Streets organises is National Walk to School
Week, encouraging parents and children to walk to school—rather
than drive.
THE LEVELS
OF OBESITY
The United Kingdom is facing an obesity epidemic.
Levels of obesity—including amongst children—have
rocketed since the mid-1980s. One study has found that the proportion
of children over-weight increase from 5.4% to 9.0% amongst English
boys between 1984 and 1994, and from 6.4% to 10.0% amongst English
girls. Prevalence of obesity increased to 1.7% for English boys
and 2.6% for English girls.[48]
It is believed that these rising trends in childhood obesity will
be reflected in further increases in adult obesity in the future.
In the United States, which has witnessed a similar trend, obesity
amongst adult women has now reached more than 25% in some States.[49]
Obesity causes preventable diseases, including diabetes, asthma
and coronary heart disease. These related illnesses are imposing
an ever-greater economic cost on businesses and the NHS (diabetes
alone is estimated to consume up to 10% of hospital resources).
THE LINK
BETWEEN OBESITY
AND EXERCISE
One of the main causes of obesity is lack of
exercise. In the UK today, many people do not engage in enough
physical exercise. Children and adults are leading ever-more sedentary
lifestyles. This is partly due to the switch in travel methods
between walking and motorised transport. The latest figures from
the Government's National Travel Survey show that the average
person now walks 66 miles a year less than they did 25 years ago.
They walk 48 miles less than they did just ten years ago—a
drop of 20% in a decade.
In 1975-76 the average distance walked per person
per year in Britain was 255 miles. By 1989-91 it had dropped to
237 miles. Today, it's just 189 miles.
For many people, joining a gym or take part
in team sports are not realistic options—for economic or
time reasons. However, regular walking as part of daily routine
is a viable option and involves only modest changes to lifestyle.
Health experts believe that walking is the nearest
activity to perfect exercise. It can play a massive role in reducing
the incidence of obesity—and thus, coronary heart disease,
diabetes, asthma, osteoporosis and other conditions. Five thirty-minute
periods of exercise a week can halve your chances of dying prematurely
from heart disease and strokes and certain forms of cancer such
as prostrate cancer in men (New Scientist 8/01/2000).
Health experts recommend that the average person
should take 10,000 steps per day, to ensure stamina, energy, weight
control, etc.[50]
However, the average person takes about 7,000 steps a day.[51]
Many office workers only take about 3,500 a day.[52]
Just 30 minutes of brisk walking would fill this gap.
ENCOURAGING WALKING
Why do people walk less than they did? People
walk less as part of their daily routines because it is has become
increasingly more challenging to walk:
— Planning policies have led to essential
services (eg shops, post offices, banks, doctors, schools, chemists)
being further away from people's homes than they used to be (the
Social Exclusion Unit's report into Transport and Social Exclusion
sets this out—for example, from the mid 1970s to the late
1980s, total distances travelled for food shopping increased by
60%).
— The condition of pavements is continuing
to deteriorate, and this is putting people off walking, particularly
older people. The Government's transport strategy, "Transport
2010—The Ten Year Plan" set out a target to stop the
deterioration in the condition of local roads in England by 2004—but
this does not include footways. In 2001, the latest figures available,
the 281,000 km of footways in England and Wales, continued to
deteriorate. Indeed, footways are in their worst state than at
any time since 1986. 24% of all footways showed general deterioration,
and there existed an average of 2.3 "trip hazards" for
every 100 metres. Every category of footway has deteriorated since
1997, but those on rural roads have deteriorated the most.
— The fear of crime is a major deterrent
to walking, and the poor quality of street lighting in many areas
is a significant factor in this. Much of the UK's lighting stock
is hopelessly out of date, and getting more so. Currently, only
about 1% of the lighting stock is being replaced annually. This
is despite Home Office research showing that lighting is a far
better deterrent against crime and the fear of crime than CCTV.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Living Streets would make the following recommendations:
1. The Government should move fast to publish
a National Walking Strategy. Such a strategy has been promised
for the past six years, but has suffered delay after delay. We
understand that the Department of Health has been consulted on
a draft, but the delays are continuing. A National Walking Strategy
is not simply a matter of transport policy—it should also
be part of the nation's health strategy. As part of this strategy
there should be clear targets for halting—and reversing—the
decline in walking. Tough targets should be set for increasing
the number of journeys undertaken on foot, and this should be
backed up with ring-fenced funding. Indeed the Government should
consider transferring responsibility for walking (or at least
spreading the responsibility) from the Department for Transport
to the Department of Health.
2. The Government must believe that it is
possible to encourage walking, and that it should be providing
leadership. There are many excellent initiatives at local authority
level across the country. For example, in Birmingham over 540
GPs are prescribing walking to patients, who are referred to a
local authority team. In Stockport, the Primary Care Trust and
the local authority transport team share staff, and are introducing
health impact assessments for all new transport policies. Yet
at a national level, there appears to be great timidity in promoting
walking. There appears to be an outdated belief that promoting
walking is not something that a government should be engaged in.
Ministers and civil servants seem to remember the Monty Python
"Ministry of Silly Walks" TV sketch from the 1960s,
and worry that they would be open to similar ridicule. Yet this
view is hopelessly out of date. Promoting walking is as important
as encouraging people to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables
a day, or to stop smoking.
3. The Government should introduce tough
national street management standards for local authorities, and
take action on those authorities that continue to fail to meet
those standards. The poor condition of the street environment
deters people from walking. The Audit Commission, in its review
of street care services by local authorities (March 2002) found
serious deficiencies in the way that some councils were providing
street care services.
4. The Department of Health should invest
in public health promotion campaigns to encourage walking. Long-term,
sustained health promotion campaigns can have a dramatic difference
in changing lifestyles. The Government's work around smoking cessation
is just one example. There is evidence from the United States
and Australia that the promotion of walking can change lifestyles,
and improve health. We would like to see the Department undertake
such promotion, and we'd be delighted to work with the Department
on such a project. It is interesting to note that Richard Carmona,
the Surgeon General of the United States, is taking a personal
lead in promoting walking as a way of preventing disease.
5. The Government should reverse the decline
in funding for walking schemes from 2000-01, traffic calming and
traffic management from 2003-04 and road crossings from 2001-02.
Studies have shown that local, small-scale improvement schemes
can have a dramatic positive impact on road casualty figures,
as well as improving the feeling of well-being and security felt
by local communties (eg Hull, Gloucester). By cutting casualty
figures, you can give people the confidence to walk more. Yet
the focus for funding is for large-scale schemes, and smaller
schemes are being scaled back.
CONCLUSION
Very recently, we have detected an increased
enthusiasm from the Department of Health for the role that walking
must play in reducing obesity and cutting preventable disease—and
we welcome this. Walking is a clear example of where "joined-up
government" is needed, and with the Department for Transport
fully occupied with the railways and roads agenda, this cannot
be left solely as a transport issue. To promote walking, two things
must be done: firstly, the conditions for walking as part of one's
everyday life must be improved (eg making sure planning policies
encourage local facilities that can be walked to from local neighbourhoods;
improving the condition and safety of roads and pavements), and
secondly, walking as part of a healthy lifestyle must be promoted.
The Department of Health must now become involved
in delivering these two factors. Walking is too important for
the nation's health to be left to the Department for Transport
alone. We will be happy to work with the Department of Health
to promote walking as part of healthy lifestyles promotion.
48 BMJ 2001; 322: 24-26 ( 6 January 2001), Prevalence
and trends in overweight and obesity in three cross sectional
studies of British children, 1974-94; Susan Chinn, reader in medical
statistics, Roberto J Rona, professor; Department of Public Health
Sciences, King's College London, London SE1 3QD. Back
49
Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc 1999; 282: 16, 2001;
286: 10. Back
50
National Centre for Physical activity and Health at Loughborough
University re Len Almond 01242 533350. Back
51
"The utility of the digi-walker step counter to assess daily
physical activity patterns" Welk et al, 2000. Back
52
"Use of the pedometer for promoting daily walking exercise"
Hatano, Y 1993. Back
|
