Making Active Places 2026: Manchester speech explained

If you hear the phrase active travel and think it sounds technical, you are not alone. The speech delivered in Manchester on 22 September 2026 was useful because it translated that policy language into something more familiar: the walk to a bus stop, the cycle to school, the safer route home. In the GOV.UK speech, the Transport Secretary argued that walking, wheeling and cycling should stop being treated as an optional extra and start being planned as part of the transport system itself. For readers, that is the main takeaway. This is not a niche transport debate; it is a question about how ordinary places are built.

The personal opening mattered more than it might seem. The minister began with childhood memories in Swindon, from a first blue bike with stabilisers to paper rounds on her dad’s old road bike, then moved to cycling across London in her twenties because a travelcard cost too much. Later came her work in London government, where she helped deliver protected cycle lanes and lower speeds on busy roads. **What this means:** the speech was asking us to see active travel as something ordinary rather than elite. Not sport for a small group, but freedom for teenagers, cheaper travel for younger workers and a practical way to move through a town or city with more confidence.

The clearest policy argument was simple: walking, wheeling and cycling should connect with buses and trains, not compete with them. The speech also pushed back against the tired idea that transport has to become a culture-war argument. The point was not bikes versus cars. The point was choice. If you have ever walked to a stop, pushed a buggy over a dropped kerb, used a wheelchair on a station platform or cycled the first mile to college, you already know why this matters. Most trips are mixed, not pure. That is also why the word wheeling matters. It makes room for wheelchair users, mobility scooter users and others who are too often left out when transport policy is discussed.

Manchester was used as the clearest example of what this can look like in practice. In the speech, the Bee Network was presented as one of devolution’s strongest success stories, with Chris Boardman helping shape it and Mayor Andy Burnham backing its growth. What began as an active travel plan is now the shared public brand for buses, trams, walking and cycling across Greater Manchester. The government pointed to 700 million active travel trips taken last year, alongside growing use of routes such as Chorlton Cycle Way and Oxford Road. **What this means:** people do not suddenly start walking or cycling because they are lectured. They are more likely to do it when routes feel safe, direct and joined-up.

This is where devolution becomes more than a political buzzword. Decisions on pavement parking, school streets and local road layouts are often better made close to the people who live with them. A mayor or council is more likely to know which crossing feels risky, which school gate is chaotic at 8.30, or which stretch of road quietly puts people off cycling. That helps explain why the latest cycling and walking investment strategy puts so much weight on local delivery. The speech said billions will be invested in active travel by 2030, with most of that money devolved to local government through record multi-year funding. For councils, that makes planning easier. For residents, it gives local leaders a better chance of actually finishing the work they start.

The targets are ambitious. The government says at least 60% of children should be walking or cycling to school by 2035, building on an agreement with mayors to deliver 3,500 miles of footways, safer crossings and cycle lanes. You do not need to be a transport specialist to see why that matters. The school run affects congestion, air quality, independence and family routine all at once. The speech also announced £104 million for the National Cycle Network. According to the government, that money will maintain and expand the 12,000-mile network, repair bridges, improve signage and support new routes around the HS2 line. **What this means:** some of the most useful transport spending is not dramatic. A fixed bridge, a clear sign or a path that does not suddenly end can decide whether a route feels possible.

By the end, the speech had widened from transport to public health, high streets and personal safety. Less congestion, fewer sick days, more physical activity and less pressure on the NHS were all held up as public gains. So was the idea that women and girls should feel safer walking home. That framing matters because it moves active travel out of the box marked hobby and into the box marked public good. There is a lesson here for all of us. Speeches do not build footways. Budgets, councils, planners and public pressure do. So if you want to judge whether these promises are real, watch what happens next where you live: whether crossings appear, whether school streets survive, whether pavement parking is tackled and whether routes join up instead of stopping abruptly. That is the point where transport policy turns into everyday life.