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GREEN NETWORKS FOR PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE
Scottish Executive transport spending should be diverted to deliver an investment programme which ensures that every school and major public centre is accessible via pollution-free, safe cycling and walking networks by 2017. These networks should be linked into a series of well managed wildlife-rich green spaces, creating green routes between town and country.
Cycling and walking networks will reduce traffic congestion and pollution, provide quality local environments with opportunities for outdoor recreation and sport, and create social cohesion, enhancing people’s quality of life. Green spaces will provide natural living space for species and the creation of green networks will allow plants and animals to move through the landscape, improving their chances of survival.
Background
Transport Scotland has a long tradition of parks and other green spaces in urban and suburban areas. However, at the moment opportunities for safe, non-motorised travel within and between communities in Scotland are generally very poor. We need to bring green spaces into the 21st century, linking green areas into networks running through and between where we live and work – ‘greenways’ through our communities and out to rural areas, joining up cities, towns an villages. This will help tackle social exclusion, by enabling more people to safely access schools, services and jobs without the use of cars. Properly integrated, well-signed walking and cycling routes will help connect outlying estates to town and cities. One of the objectives of the National Transport Strategy is to promote a shift to more sustainable forms of transport. To achieve this people must have a real choice in the way they travel. We believe that people in Scotland are aware of the need for change, but will not do so unless given the proper infrastructure to enable them to choose not to use their cars. The Scottish Executive must therefore deliver an environment where people can walk, cycle or take public transport as a first choice for the majority of their trips. We can reduce the need to travel by improving access to local services and green areas. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act has given us potentially the best framework for access in Europe, but this will not alone be able to address the great and urgent need for more paths, especially along main roads and within communities. Our proposed investment programme will need to be recognised as a major transport and environment initiative, led by the Scottish Executive, delivered partly by the Executive and partly by local authorities and third sector organisations.
Wildlife The programme will result in a system of wildlife habitat corridors connecting natural wildlife sites, community woodlands, parks, gardens and the myriad of small green spaces within our towns and cities. This is vital if we are to stop the loss of species and habitats in Scotland, as we know that wildlife will not thrive in small isolated ‘islands’ of green space.
Economy The provision of networks of accessible natural green space will also lead to economic benefits, through encouraging investment and growth. Green networks represent good value for money with lower costs per visits than other leisure facilities. They support a healthier lifestyle. Healthier people are creative, work efficiently and rise to challenges. It makes sense to invest in a healthy workforce. Visitors to green networks spend money and so generate income in the local economy.
Green networks promote a more active life through walking, cycling and other outdoor activity. As a nation, Scotland is inactive, unfit and increasingly overweight and obese. The health of two-thirds of the adult population is now at risk from physical inactivity, making it the most common risk factor for coronary heart disease in Scotland today.
Facts 1/3 of Scottish households do not have access to a car. (Scottish Household Survey) 72% of women and 59% of men in Scotland are not active enough for health. (Scottish Executive, 2003) Transport is the fastest growing contributor to climate change. (TRANSform Scotland) More people in Scotland die from emissions than road accidents each year. (FoES) Woodland and urban trees help mitigate air pollution. (Sc Forestry Strategy, 2006)
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