Health

Health and the walking environment

Encouraging healthy, physically active lifestyles will require major changes in the environment in both urban and rural areas. Our current environment presents too many barriers particularly to walking and encourages car use and other forms of sedentary behaviour. The Ramblers supports the Take Action on Active Travel campaign to encourage good public health by spending 10% of transport budgets on walking and cycling and has made a number of other interventions in the debate around health and the physical environment.

Read more about health and the walking environment.

Promoting physical activity for public health

As well as improving the environment, society should be dedicating more resources to encouraging people to use that environment for physical activity. Currently 70% of adults and around 40% of children in Britain don't do enough physical activity for good health, resulting in serious public health problems such as rising obesity levels. For most people, walking is the easiest and most accessible activity. We work with decision makers, government bodies and other organisations to obtain adequate resources and effective policy and delivery of physical activity promotion, including everyday walking.