Road Safety
Active Travel In Pembrokeshire
What is Active Travel?
Active Travel is a Welsh Government initiative aimed at promoting healthier travel habits and reducing traffic congestion. It encourages people to choose alternative modes of transport for everyday journeys instead of relying on motor vehicles.
Some common forms of Active Travel include:
- Walking: This is one of the most common forms of Active Travel. For some individuals, walking may involve the use of support aids such as a walking stick or an assistance dog. For others, it might include running or jogging to their destination.
- Wheeling: This includes the use of wheelchairs or mobility scooters to get around. Some people may also use skateboards or other wheeled devices as part of their travel routine.
- Cycling: Involves using pedal power to travel. This can include a wide range of bikes, from standard and electric bicycles to adapted cycles with trailers for carrying children or goods.
What are the benefits of Active Travel?
Active Travel offers many physical health benefits by incorporating movement into your daily routine.
Here’s how it can make a positive impact:
- Choosing to travel actively, whether by walking, wheeling, or cycling, adds natural exercise into your day.
- A 10-minute walk can burn around 100 calories
- A 10-minute bike ride can burn approximately 50 calories
- Walking just one mile a day can burn 36,500 calories over the course of a year. That’s the equivalent of burning off about 10 pounds of body fat - simply by changing how you get around!
Regular physical activity helps:
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Strengthen your heart and lungs
- Boost energy levels
- Improve muscle tone and joint flexibility
- Being active every day helps reduce the risk of health conditions like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. It also supports better mental health and improved sleep.
Mental health benefits:
Being active outdoors doesn’t just benefit your body, it’s also great for your mind. Whether you’re walking, wheeling, or cycling, Active Travel can help boost your mood and mental health in a number of ways.
- When you move, whether walking, wheeling, or cycling, your body releases feel-good chemicals like endorphins and serotonin. These help improve your mood, reduce stress, and leave you feeling more relaxed.
- Being active regularly can help you feel more confident, especially as you start to see improvements and achieve personal goals. It gives a sense of accomplishment that can lift your self-esteem.
- Physical activity during the day helps you sleep more soundly at night. It also reduces feelings of anxiety and helps you manage everyday stress more effectively.
- Going for a walk, wheel, or ride gives your brain something new to focus on. The change of scenery and physical movement can help calm racing thoughts and make you feel more in control.
Environmental benefits:
Pembrokeshire, like the rest of the world, is facing a climate and ecological emergency. But small changes in how we travel can make a big difference. By choosing to walk, wheel, or cycle instead of using a vehicle, you can help protect the environment and create a cleaner, healthier county.
- Up to 40,000 people in the UK die each year due to air pollution. Shockingly, around 80% of that pollution comes from vehicles on the road. Switching to Active Travel reduces harmful emissions and leads to cleaner, fresher air for everyone in Pembrokeshire.
- Replacing car trips with walking, wheeling, or cycling significantly reduces carbon dioxide emissions, a major cause of global warming.
- Every mile cycled instead of driven can save around one pound of CO₂ from entering the atmosphere.
- More people travelling actively means fewer vehicles on the road, which leads to less traffic congestion, reduced noise pollution, and safer, more pleasant streets for everyone.
Financial benefits:
Active Travel isn’t just good for your health and the environment, they’re also much cheaper than driving. Even switching just a few short car journeys each week can lead to big savings over time.
- Active Travel means spending less on petrol, less on car repairs, and no parking fees. That’s money back in your pocket.
- Replacing just 10 miles of car travel a week with walking, wheeling, or cycling can save you around £213 a year on car running costs, according to estimates.
- Switching to a bike for your everyday travel could save you more than £3,000 a year, according to estimates.
- Instead of paying for a car every month, you could invest in a quality bicycle with just one month’s car payment, and that bike might even last longer than the car!
What are the Council doing to help with Active Travel?
The Cycle and Active Travel Development Co-ordinator, part of the Road Safety team, is working closely with local schools to promote and support various Active Travel initiatives.
The services the team provide are:
- Park and Stride
- Walking Bus
- Active Travel Tracker
- Walk to School with Ziggy Zebra
- Kerbcraft (Pedestrian Training)
- National Standards Cycle Training in schools
To encourage a more active lifestyle for all ages, the Authority also offer:
- Scooter courses
- Holiday cycling clubs
- Family cycle training
- National Standards Level 3 qualification for those adults who are competent cyclists and use cycling as a regular mode of transport
If you require any more infomation about the above services please email our Road Safety Team.
Our team is continually exploring ways to improve existing routes across Pembrokeshire and identify opportunities to develop new routes where needed. For details on upcoming proposals and improvements, please visit our Transport Strategy page.
In April 2024, Pembrokeshire County Council introduced an E-bike scheme in Haverfordwest, Fishguard, Goodwick, and Tenby. Following its success, our Officers are actively working to expand the scheme to more locations across the County. Stay updated and find out more about schemes: e-bikes
How can I get involved?
Getting started with Active Travel couldn’t be easier! Take a moment to think about your daily or weekly journeys, are there any you could do without using a vehicle?
Whether it’s walking to the shops, cycling to an appointment, wheeling to meet friends, or joining a local community group, even small changes can make a big difference, not just for you, but for the health and beauty of our County.
If you have suggestions for new routes or ideas on how to improve existing ones, please get in touch.
- Contact you Local County Councillor
- Or email our team directly
Together, we can make Pembrokeshire a cleaner, healthier, and more active place to live.
Useful links:
All local authorities in Wales have to produce maps of walking and cycling networks in their local area, known as Active Travel Network Maps (ATNMs) (opens in a new tab).
The Active Travel Network Maps user guide (opens in a new tab) explains how to access and use the online maps.
The Active Travel Network Maps background information guide (opens in a new tab) explains the Active Travel Network Maps (and how to interpret them).