West Sussex County Council is committed to making sustainable travel journeys a safer, more convenient and more accessible option for our residents and visitors alike and that commitment is paying off with recognition from the Department for Transport (DfT), Active Travel England (ATE) and other industry bodies.
A cornerstone of this commitment is our approach to Active Travel, which is how we make it a more attractive option to use physically active means for your everyday journeys, such as walking or scooting to school, using a wheelchair or mobility scooter for shopping trips, or cycling to work. Advantages to choosing to travel actively include increased fitness, cheaper journeys and environmental benefits.
Last autumn, Active Travel England, the government agency that works with local authorities to improve active travel, awarded the county council Level 1 Capability status in recognition of the progress we had made over the previous year.
The award has allowed us to continue building on the progress made in recent years by bidding for funding to deliver on our ambition, with us recently securing £2.35million in funding from DfT. This funding will be used to design and deliver improvements in facilities and infrastructure to enable our residents to choose to walk, wheel and cycle where possible.
In further recognition of the progress the county council has made in this area, we were recently awarded the Mobilityways Commute Zero Hero Award 2025 for Active Travel Champion.
Hosted by the climate tech provider Mobilityways, the awards honour organisations and individuals driving innovative commuting solutions that reduce carbon emissions and foster a culture of sustainability.
The county council was awarded this honour for our Active Travel Strategy which prioritises school journeys, with the awarding body stating that the strategy demonstrates a long-term vision to prioritise active travel.
Cllr Joy Dennis, WSCC Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport said: “It’s a great achievement to receive recognition from both government and industry bodies for the hard work we have put in over the past few years and it coincides with the participation rates for walking and cycling in West Sussex being consistently above the national average.
“Active Travel is much more than just an investment in new pavements, crossings and cycle paths. It’s about providing our residents with the ability to choose to walk, wheel or cycle instead of using their cars for journeys to school, work and many more destinations in line with the goals set out in the West Sussex Transport Plan.”
While continuing the progress made in active travel across West Sussex, a key focus for the county council is building the habit of travelling actively from a young age. Our Active Travel to School programme involves providing site-specific improvements, such as new or upgraded crossing points, widened footways, segregated cycle tracks and behavioural change interventions to enable children and their parents to travel actively for the school run.
We have also introduced School Streets as part of a pilot programme which aims to reduce traffic and make the space outside the school gate safer. By restricting traffic on roads outside schools during drop-off and pick-up times, these areas become pedestrian and cycle priority zones. Although not all locations are suitable for a School Street we are committed to delivering more of them in future.
All of these initiatives combined will help to create a future for travel in West Sussex where the decision to use a sustainable transport option is an easy one to make.
