News Release
Ramblers Scotland welcomes today’s publication of the Scottish Government’s Interim Games Legacy Plan for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, but asks how many government departments are committed to the plan. Dennis Canavan, President of Ramblers Scotland, calls on the First Minister to ensure effective coordination between his Ministers to successfully deliver the 2014 aspirations.
Dennis Canavan(1) said: “We are delighted that improving Scotland’s health will be ‘the unifying theme’ of the Games legacy and we congratulate the Legacy Board on their comprehensive and detailed draft plan. We urge everyone to engage in the public consultation on this draft plan so that the final document, due next July, is the ideal launch pad for 2014.”
Dennis Canavan made three points that need to be taken on board during the consultation:
A sustained campaign to promote walking must be at the heart of the 2014 Legacy plan. This is the easiest and most effective way of delivering the major health benefits that the plan aspires to. Walking is an activity that is available to virtually anyone. It is simple, free and requires no specialised equipment or major facilities. But two thirds of the population do not complete the minimum recommended guidelines for physical activity of 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.
The Interim Plan puts a lot of emphasis on the development of physical infrastructure for sport and identifies participation in sport as a priority in securing a health legacy for Scotland. This is good but we must not equate increased sporting activity with increased physical activity across the population as a whole. The evidence from previous Commonwealth and Olympic Games indicates that sports development alone will not deliver the health and other benefits to the nation as a whole that are supposed to be at the core of the 2014 legacy.
Government departments must work together in this legacy plan. I will be writing to the First Minister to emphasise the Ramblers’ support for the work of the Legacy Board and to urge him to ensure that all his Ministers are fully behind the plan. I will be reminding him of the words of Scotland’s Chris Hoy moments after his magnificent achievement in winning his third gold medal in the Beijing Olympics. He called for much more effort to be made to encourage cycling, for more cycling paths separated from the traffic so that anyone can get out on a bike and provide long term gains both for cycling and for society as a whole. So it is really depressing to see, in the same week that Chris Hoy is named BBC Sports Personality of the Year, that the best that Scotland’s Transport Department can do is allocate a miserable 1% of their budget to the promotion of walking and cycling. We are never going to achieve our 2014 legacy aspirations when Scotland falls even further behind other European countries in funding active travel. Investment programmes over many years led to Dutch and Danish cycle journey shares of 20-25% and in May 2008, Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson said ‘With a cycling modal share of just 1% we clearly have to do much more if we are to emulate our European neighbours.’ The First Minister needs to make it clear to his fellow Ministers that priorities need to change so that there is much more support for the active travel modes of walking and cycling.
Dennis Canavan concluded: “Increased walking and cycling have enormous potential to significantly improve the lifestyles and aspirations of so many who live in and visit Scotland. It is fundamental that the Scottish Government recognises this potential and emphasises that such physical activity must be at the core of the final Games Legacy Plan in summer 2009. On 1st January we will publish ‘Walk the Path to 2014’ (2), the Ramblers Scotland plan to develop walking in Scotland ahead of and beyond 2014. As the first step in this plan, next year we will be promoting ‘Walk Homecoming 2009’, a project to encourage all who live in Scotland, as well as those returning from far away, to take to their feet and enjoy our natural, cultural and historical heritage.
ENDS
Notes
(1) Dennis Canavan was first elected to the House of Commons in 1974 and was a member of the Scottish Parliament from 1999 until he stood down in May 2007. He has a long-standing interest in sport and the outdoors – enjoying cycling, hill walking and horse riding. Dennis was Convener of the Cross Party Sports Group in the Scottish Parliament and Chair of the Scottish Sports Group in the Westminster Parliament.
(2) 2014 walking plan
‘Walk the Path to 2014’ aims to substantially increase the numbers of people walking in Scotland and use the stimulus of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow to help increase physical activity levels across the Scottish population as a whole.
The plan proposes extensive promotion of walking, involving support and expansion of existing work to promote walking, as well as work on new programmes. It also examines the need to develop much better path networks in and around Scottish communities, both for walking and other non motorised activities such as cycling. The proposals target the inactive majority of the Scottish population, notably communities suffering from serious social and physical deprivation, as well as young people.
‘Walk the Path to 2014’ can be accessed at www.ramblers.org.uk/scotland .
(3) Ramblers Scotland
The Ramblers’ Association Scotland is the representative body for walkers in Scotland, with over 7,800 members and 58 local groups throughout the country. Our aims are to promote walking for health and pleasure, to develop path networks, to secure access for walkers and to protect the environment.
