by

January’s Street Talk

Christian Wolmar – From good to great? How to use transport policies to turn London into a liveable city

We hope you can join us for the first Street Talks of 2013 when we’ll be joined by Christian Wolmar, leading commentator and author on transport issues. Christian’s talk will explore how changes in transport policy could help turn London into a more liveable city.

Upstairs at The Yorkshire Grey, 2 Theobalds Road, WC1X 8PN at 7pm on Tuesday 8th January (bar open from 6pm).

Christian Wolmar is an award-winning writer and broadcaster specialising in transport and is the author of a series of books on railway history. In the autumn of 2012, he announced he is seeking the Labour candidacy for the 2016 London mayoral election. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and events, and regularly appears on TV and radio. In 2011 he was the captain of the Warwick team of graduates in Christmas University Challenge, which reached the final of the competition.

Christian has spent nearly all of his working life as a journalist, and his interest in transport began at The Independent when he was appointed transport correspondent in 1992. Although he mainly concentrates on transport matters, he has covered many other social policy issues and writes regularly for a wide variety of publications including newspapers such as The Times and The Guardian – he has written for every national newspaper except the Star – and numerous magazines. He broadcasts frequently on radio and TV and is a regular pundit on the national news. Among his TV appearances, he has featured on Coast, Julia Bradbury’s Railway Walks and the railway programmes presented by Ian Hislop and Michael Portillo.

Christian is a member of the board of London Cycling Campaign with a special interest in intermodal transport and uses his bicycle as his principal means of transport around London.

by

December’s Street Talk: The word from the street 2 – speaker line up

7pm on Tuesday 11th December at Look Mum No Hands, 49 Old Street, EC1V 9HX

We hope you can join us at Street Talks in December for what promises to be an interesting and lively evening of short presentations on how to create a more liveable London. Each of the following speakers will have 7½ minutes to present their ideas:

  • Brenda Puech on the pedestrian experience and coping strategies for crossing the road
  • Daniel Cooper on why we need fewer car parks and more parks
  • Darren Reynolds on promoting cycling to children
  • George Weeks from TfL on valuing the urban realm
  • Graham Freer on how a series of ‘connected cities’ might accommodate London’s growing population
  • Jenny Bates on proposals for new river crossings in east London
  • Jon Irwin on his DIY guide for transforming your high street
  • Julia Day on the Open Streets London project
  • Katharine Hibbert on why we need a revival in hitchhiking
  • Rosie Tharp on how the Canal and River Trust is managing the growing numbers of users of ‘London’s greatest park’
  • Dr William Bird on how Beat the Street aims to get more children walking to school

Presentations will start at 7pm, and Look Mum No Hands will be open as usual beforehand for food and drink.

by

Public Health and Transport Masterclass – presentation and resources

Public Health Outcomes Framework transport related indicators – referred to in the above presentation, this is the full list of all the Public Health Outcome measures that local authorities will be assessed against highlighting those indicators related to transport.

Evidence

Healthy transport = healthy lives British Medical Association (2012) – Summary of the links between health and transport

Health on the Move 2: Policies for health-promoting transport Mindell JS, Watkins SJ, Gohen JM (eds) (2011) – Comprehensive overview of evidence for the range of health issues relating to transport

Transport, physical activity and health: present knowledge and the way ahead Mackett, RL & Brown B (2011)- Review of the evidence on physical activity and transport which finds the key means of increasing physical activity is through reducing car use while retaining accessibility

Fairness in a car dependent society Sustainable Development Commission (2011) – Evidence and policy recommendations for inequalities and transport

Essential evidence: the benefits of cycling and walking – one page evidence summaries of various topics by Adrian Davis, Bristol City Council

NICE Guidance

‘Gold standard’ evidence based guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Evidence (NICE) relating to active travel. These are summarised in NICE’s pathway for local authorities.

Public Health Guidance 8 Promoting and creating built or natural environments that encourage and support physical activity (January 2008)

Public Health Guidance 13 Promoting Physical Activity in the workplace (May 2008)

Public Health Guidance 17 Physical activity and Children (January 2009)

Public Health Guidance 25 Prevention of CVD at a population level (June 2010)

Public Health Guidance 31 Preventing unintentional road injuries among under-15s: road design (November 2010)

Public Health Guidance 41 Walking and cycling: local measures to promote walking and cycling as forms of travel or recreation (November, 2012)

Tools

Health Economic Assessment Tool for walking and cycling World Health Organisation (2011) – Online tool to estimate the economic savings from increasing walking and/or cycling:

Public Health Outcomes Framework Data Tool London Health Observatory (2012) – Tool for comparing local authorities by their performance against each of the Public Health Outcome Framework Measures

Standard evaluation framework for physical activity interventions National Obesity Observatory (2012) -Tool for evaluating the effectiveness of walking and cycling projects

Health Urban Development Unit – Tools for assessing the health impacts of planning

Air Quality Guide for each London borough Greater London Authority.

National Heart Forum Healthy Places website – Resource explaining the operation of laws that could enable, or place limits on, local government and community activity that affects the healthiness of a place including case studies of how others have used the regulatory environment to promote physical activity

Policy

Take action on active travel: why a shift from car dominated transport policy would benefit public health Sustrans (2010) – A useful resource for policy recommendations and related policy documents on this subject

Health Impact Assessment of Transport Initiatives: A Guide Douglas M, Thomson H, Jepson R, Hurley F, Higgins M, Muirie J, Gorman D (eds) (2007) -Policy background, evidence and guidance on health impact assessment for transport and health

Transport data

Transport Statistics Great Britain: 2010 edition Department for Transport (2011) – Survey data of travel habits in Great Britain

London Travel Demand Survey Transport for London (2011) – Survey data of travel habits in London

by

December’s Street Talk: The word from the street 2 – we want to hear from you

7pm on Tuesday 11th December at Look Mum No Hands, 49 Old Street, EC1V 9HX

For December’s Street Talk we once again want to hear from you. What are your hopes, fears and ideas for a more liveable London?

We’d like to hear your thoughts on how and why London could be made a more liveable city. What you talk about and whether you use slides is up to you. You can be as light hearted or as serious as you like. Passion is more important than experience and the only rule is that you will have exactly 7½ minutes to present.

If you were mayor what would you do to solve London’s transport challenges? How can London become a great city for walking and cycling? Where should London look for inspiration? What public spaces would you like to see improved, and how? How would you convince politicians that they need to take these issues seriously?

If you’d like to speak please send us a 150 word summary by 5pm on Friday 30th November.

Looking for inspiration? Here’s a selection of presentations from last year’s event:

by

Masterclass on transport and health

Responsibility for Public Health is moving from the NHS to local authorities providing a new opportunity to make the case for transport interventions on the basis of improving health.  Come to our first masterclass to find out how to make the most of this opportunity from Lucy Saunders, a specialist in Public Health and transport.

Lucy Saunders is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health, she has worked in the public health system in London for 10 years in Primary Care Trusts, Health Protection Agency, Department of Health, World Health Organisation, PwC and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.  She now works for the Greater London Authority integrating public health into transport and planning across London.

The masterclass will cover:

  • What Public Health is, who is responsible for it, what they do and how to engage with them
  • What is changing and why this is a good time to make the link between health and transport
  • Challenges, barriers and how to overcome them
  • All the key resources for making the health case for increasing walking and cycling in London

We hope you can join us for the masterclass which will be held at City Hall on Wednesday 21st November from 6.30 – 8pm. Please let us know if you’d like to attend.

by

November’s Street Talk

Mark Ames, editor of ibikelondon: I bike, you bike, we bike – cycling towards an equal city

Mark Ames has been writing about cycling for four years and in that time has seen everything from tens of thousands of cyclists on the streets in demonstrations to an old aged pensioner riding the notorious Elephant and Castle roundabout. He’ll chart the highs and lows of cycle advocacy in London and propose new ideas as to what really needs to be done to achieve a real cycling revolution in London, and more importantly who needs to ask for it. Finally, Mark will put forward the idea that keeping cyclists safe and designing the built environment go hand in hand, and, when done well are a true indicator of an equal city.

Mark Ames is the editor of i b i k e l o n d o n and a sustainable urban travel advocate. He was instrumental in organising mass participation bike rides in 2011 on Blackfriars Bridge and around the 10 most dangerous junctions for cyclists in London. In 2012 he fired the starting gun for the ‘Love London, Go Dutch Big Ride’ setting off 10,000 cyclists calling for roads in London to be made as safe for cycling as they are in the Netherlands. He’s appeared on television, online and in print talking about bicycle safety and in 2012 was invited to Oxford University and the Houses of Parliament to talk about everyday and ordinary cycling.

Upstairs at The Yorkshire Grey, 2 Theobalds Road, WC1X 8PN at 7pm (bar open 6pm) on Tuesday 6th November.