Britain's most successful Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey has been appointed as new Active Travel Commissioner for the Manchester city-region.
It comes as the GMCA vowed to place Manchester residents' health and wellbeing at the centre of its new visions for the future, as it announced that councils across the borough will be working to deliver real Living Wage for all adult social care staff as well as encouraging people to opt for walking or bikes as part of the new Bee Network scheme.
Dame Sarah, who is Great Britain’s most successful Paralympian, takes up the role after former Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman became England’s Active Travel Commissioner earlier this year. Dame Sarah has worked as a policy advocate for British Cycling, with a focus on promoting road safety and improving access to cycling for women and those with disabilities.
Most recently, she was Active Travel Commissioner in South Yorkshire, where she led the transformation of the region’s cycling and walking network. Dame Sarah will start her work in May and will work alongside the newly appointed Transport Commissioner Vernon Everitt.
In the new role, Dame Sarah will be advising the Mayor on the Bee Network active travel vision - a £1.5bn plan to create 1,800 miles of routes to connect every area and community in Greater Manchester, by integrating cycling and walking with other public transport modes. Funding of £217m has already been confirmed for 117 packages of work - the delivery of these began in 2018 and is expected through to 2025.
Over the next 12 months, Greater Manchester will continue developing its new cycling and walking infrastructure and will see a further 60km of routes added to Bee Network standards, 40 school streets that make cycling, walking and scooting to school safer and easier, 18 new crossings and 12 Dutch-style CYCLOPS junctions.
On the appointment of the new Active Travel Commissioner, Mayor Andy Burnham said: “I am delighted Dame Sarah Storey is coming home to Greater Manchester after making such an impact working in South Yorkshire. We have much to deliver together: over the next 12 months we will continue to build on the plans set out by our former Transport Commissioner, Chris Boardman, to make active travel the number one choice in our city-region for everyday trips to work, school and the shops, or as part of a longer journey using public transport.
“This summer, the first phase of our cycle hire scheme will launch in full, making 1,200 bikes available across 200 stations in Manchester, Salford and Trafford, providing tens of thousands of people with access to an affordable, reliable and convenient cycle hire service.”
Dame Sarah added: "I was born here so for me, this is home. I've done a significant amount of my personal growth in Greater Manchester from benefiting from the Manchester Aquatics Centre to the Velodrome. So for me it's home and it's always been incredibly exciting for me to see what's happening across the city-region.
I lived in Salford for a little while. When I was born, I lived in Cheadle Hulme. And I now live just outside the boundary, but for me, Manchester's always been home. To be able to make a contribution to the great things that are happening here is a huge privilege so I'm very excited to be picking up on the amazing work Chris Boardman has left us with and to be able to add to that and roll it out further and further afield.
"We want to inspire people to take up physical activity for their own health and wellbeing and to make sure that they have that opportunity for themselves. But it's also about being able to present the opportunity in different ways.
“Getting physically active is a great way to improve both physical health and mental wellbeing, and cycling and walking short, everyday journeys are some of the easiest ways to do it. Local communities here are already reaping the benefits that quality, safer and more connected walking and cycling routes bring, but there is so much more to come.
“I can’t wait to get started and to enable the benefits of active travel to reach every community in Greater Manchester.”
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