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| Only a third of Welsh schoolchildren get their recommended hour of physical activity a day. Pic : Road Safety GB) |
The latest backbench members debate was on the subject of physical activity, in particular walking and cycling.
The Senedd passed the Active Travel Act in 2013, which is supposed to help local authorities identify and develop cycling and walking routes. Although the Act was welcomed, the problem - as always - has been the amount of resources allocated to see the vision through. Add to that concerns about rising obesity, in light of exercise's impact on mental and physical wellbeing, and the debate addresses a "ticking timebomb" in public health.
The motion called for the National Assembly to:
- Recognise the positive health impacts of physical activity.
- Note that only 35% of Welsh children are getting the recommended hour of physical activity a day.
- Recognise the potential of the Active Travel Act 2013 to boost physical activity.
- Call upon the Welsh Government to work with communities to identify walking and cycling routes that are likely to be well-used.
Lee Waters AM (Lab, Llanelli) – who as you probably all know is a former director of Sustrans Cymru (clip) – started by saying there were wider challenges than health, including carbon emissions due over-reliance on cars and "transport poverty", where services are located based on an assumption everyone has access to cars. This means the poorest 20% can spend a quarter of their income running a car.
He accepts it's hard to convince everyone to go to a gym, but active travel is achievable; 20% of car trips are under 1 mile (20 minutes by foot), while half of car journeys were under 5 miles (a 30 minute bike ride). "Obesogenic" infrastructure pushes pedestrians and cyclists to the side at the expense of road traffic.
For the Act to work it needs determined leadership from parents, GPs, employers and schools; "How do we make every day 'Walk to School Day'?" The target audience can't just be those who already walk or cycle but those who don't. The way to do that is to properly engage people so local authorities don't build facilities where it's easiest but where they're likely to be well-used; £500,000 can be spent on a new route, but a poorly placed gate or entrance can undermine it.
Shadow Infrastructure Minister, Dai Lloyd (Plaid, South Wales West) – who's a GP by profession – said it's down to us as a society to adhere to the Act's principles (clip). Keeping fit is crucially important, resulting in lower cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure; "no tablets on Earth" can bring those benefits and it's often far more effective than medicine, particularly in improving the quality of life of people with chronic conditions like COPD. Investment needs to come, particularly in supporting infrastructure like showers, though it's never too late and everyone can improve their health by walking just 30 minutes for five times a week.
Julie Morgan AM (Lab, Cardiff North) believes physical activity should be built into children's days, mentioning the positive impact on mental health too (clip). Inactivity costs the Welsh NHS £51million a year, while increased activity could save the NHS £900million over 20 years. Many activities cost money - like sports clubs – so it's important as much is done as possible in the education system, like walking bus initiatives. Local authorities should also bear in mind gender differences, as women are more keen to cycle on segregated paths than men. Also, 34% of women surveyed in Cardiff ride bikes compared to 66% of men.
Janet Finch-Saunders AM (Con, Aberconwy) took the time to acknowledge Lee Waters' previous work at Sustrans and in driving the Act (clip). 30% of children who live within a half mile of their primary schools are driven, while 34% of adults haven't undertaken any active travel in the previous seven days. Also, funding levels for active travel are just £5 per head in Wales, where Sport England say increasing it to £10 per head leads to a 22% increase in cycling, while the Netherlands spends £25 a head and cycling is listed by a third of people as their main form of transport. Nevertheless, there needs to be more meaningful targets for increasing active travel.
John Griffiths AM (Lab, Newport East) said meetings had been held between health boards, Newport Council, housing associations, sports clubs and others to get Newport's population more physically active; he hoped the Welsh Government will support some of the initiatives coming out of the meetings (clip). Unless these in depth partnerships are built there's not going to be the large scale change that's required. As the former Minister responsible for the Act, he believes it can be radical and can improve quality of life given the promise, and hoped the Act will be implemented "fully and enthusiastically".
Vikki Howells AM (Lab, Cynon Valley) revealed a particularly shocking statistic that three quarters of UK children spend less time outdoors than prison inmates (clip). There was a need to address challenges in former industrial communities in Rhondda Cynon Taf; 63% of adults are overweight or obese, while only 13% of Welsh children consider themselves to have close link to the outdoors – lower than London. Vikki stressed the importance of outdoors education, citing Natural Resources Wales statistics that say RCT has more than 700km established walks linking communities to woods and mountains.
Gareth Bennett AM (UKIP, South Wales Central) said the long term health benefits can translate into long term financial benefits by reducing obesity and diabetes (clip). He welcomed the involvement of Sport Wales in promoting sport amongst the physically inactive, while the Act can play large part in increasing activity rates. Councils can take simple measures to improve things such as bollards or properly located crossings, but there were questions over how committed local authorities are to improving cycling facilities at major transport hubs.
Jenny Rathbone AM (Lab, Cardiff Central) routinely asks schoolchildren who visit the Senedd how they get to school; a significant proportion live within a mile of their school but are driven (clip). This was an "absolute nonsense" that wasn't good for the child, environment or community and Jenny believes it should be mandatory for schools to have an active travel plan. She accepted there were problems, saying a headteacher from a valleys school told her that pupils were put off cycling not because the school was up a hill but because downhill cycling is dangerous. The onus should be on parents to ask why they were using the car, particularly when they have to spend significant sums on transport.
Responding on behalf of the Welsh Government, Minister for Social Services & Public Health, Rebecca Evans (Lab, Gower), offered her full support for the motion (clip). The Programme for Government has a commitment to a cross-department approach to supporting physical activity; this had already paid off to a certain extent with increased participation in sport.
The Welsh Health Survey also showed the rate of schoolchildren meeting physical activity guidelines has increased but there's a desire to accelerate it, and schools will have an important role to play. The new curriculum will have a focus on health and wellbeing, while there are programmes to provide support and resources to promote activity. Living Streets will be commissioned to develop a walk to school strategy, while health visitors will help families make healthy choices from birth to age 7.
To ensure the Active Travel Act works, everyone who walks and cycles needs to be involved, but also those who don't and local government was best placed to take the lead.
The Minister took an intervention from Nick Ramsay AM (Con, Monmouth) who said three years has passed since the Act was approved, but what has actually happened?
The Minister said local government were aware of how seriously the Welsh Government is taking the Act and the importance of preparing integrated maps to fill gaps in walking and cycling networks.
In summing up Shadow Health Secretary, Rhun ap Iorwerth (Plaid, Ynys Môn), said children's health was of concern to everyone, particularly when 10% of the NHS budget is spend treating diabetes (clip). The patterns children adopt early in life continue when they become adults, and he believes in extending school days to fit in more physical activity (Physical Literacy : Should PE become a core subject?) as well as promoting active travel to and from school. He mentioned the benefits for older people too, with physical activity being good for their independence and more easily fitted into their daily lives. Active travel needed to be promoted with "new enthusiasm and energy" in order for the Act's vision to be achieved.
The motion was approved with 50 votes to 1 abstention.
The Unanswered Question
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| Could it all be as simple as the weather? (Pic : Wales Online) |
It's all very well passing laws and putting the infrastructure in place to make walking and cycling easier and more attractive, but the unanswered question is: "Why aren't we doing enough exercise?" There's a good reason AMs skirt around it (though Jenny Rathbone came closest) and that's because the truthful answer will cost them votes!
I can vouch for what's been said about even modest amounts of exercise improving fitness. As I don't drive I pretty much walk everywhere and I'm healthier than I look despite my weight rebounding up and down – something I've mentioned in the past. I can walk for hours quite comfortably with the only real problems being sweat and the occasional blister.
I'm not one of these people who says, "I do this thing, therefore you all have to do it too" - and I consider such people annoying - but there's a level of personal and parental responsibility here. Cutting back home school transport should be a big push factor in increasing walking and cycling to school, but there's almost always outcry when local authorities propose it (as happened in Bridgend) even where the routes to school are relatively safe.
Something that wasn't mentioned in the debate that puts people off (and is a huge elephant in the room) is climate; although I'm used to it, it's no fun walking or cycling a mile or more to school or elsewhere in the rain....or when it's too hot....or when it's too cold. It's much easier to sit in a climate controlled tin can. There's also the time and convenience element – driving's quicker, though on a high quality segregated cycle route the journey time by bike should be comparable.
In the end you can't pass a law for nicer weather or against idleness.
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