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Sustainable and Healthy Environments

Person cycling in a park

Healthy and sustainable travel

 

Transport and health

Declining levels of physical activity, increasing levels of obesity and diabetes, air pollution, social isolation, and worsening health inequalities are all pressing public health issues in our area. Climate change is a severe threat which is already being felt in the UK and across the world.

Changing patterns in the way we travel and how we design our environments for travel have played a significant role in these issues. Bold action is required if we are to reverse these trends in population and global health and create a healthier more sustainable future for people in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan.

 

How did we get here?

In the UK, a dramatic transformation has taken place in how people travel for work and leisure over the course of the 20th century. Until the 1950s, most people got around on foot or by public transport. Since then, personal car ownership has increased rapidly and there has been a large increase in the number of journeys taken by car, while the number of journeys made by public transport and active travel have decreased.

Our built environments have developed in conjunction with, and reflect, this social change. This has led to a decline in previously extensive public transport infrastructure and urban environments have been built with cars at the centre of their design. Most housing and commercial developments over the last 70 years have been shaped by cars, not people. 

High levels of car ownership have facilitated the rise of infrastructure such as out-of-town shopping centres and business parks, which has in turn necessitated car travel for many people.

 

The effects on health and wellbeing

The shift in how we get around is exposing us to certain risk factors which we know directly lead to serious illness and reduced life expectancy such as:

  • Physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyles
  • Air pollution
  • Road traffic injuries and deaths
  • Increased loneliness and social isolation 
  • Reduction in green space
  • Worsening health equalities

The rise in car use, and the emissions of greenhouse gases, is also a contributing factor to climate change. 

 

We could do things differently

We need to help and support people to walk, cycle, take public transport, and decarbonise private vehicles. This will bring significant health benefits to people, helping to reduce rates of obesity, diabetes, dementia and many cancers. This will reduce demand on the NHS, as well as lowering carbon emissions and air pollution.

In Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan we support employers to help staff with healthy travel, through the Healthy Travel Charters.

We work with our local authorities to increase the availability and quality of safe walking and cycling infrastructure, and support planning policies which make healthy travel the easiest option. We supported Cardiff Council in its development of the Clean Air Plan, and our area is lucky enough to benefit from investment in the South Wales Metro, increasing the frequency and availability of public transport options.

As a Health Board we encourage staff and visitors to travel to our sites sustainably wherever possible.

For a more detailed description of the evidence relating to transport and health, and interventions required, please see Moving Forwards: Healthy Travel for All.