Greenways for the Olympics and London, or GOAL 2012, is a vision founded by sustainable transport charity, Sustrans'. The vision of how a great event like the Olympics and a world-class city like London can capitalise on the opportunity presented by 2012 to create a sustainable transport infrastructure that would benefit both visitors to the Games and Londoners for generations to come.
In the UK there is a lack transport investment towards walking and cycling. The potential that walking and cycling offers in delivering health, environmental, regeneration and community benefits is too often ignored. GOAL 2012 is an opportunity to showcase a new approach.
By creating a network of Greenways across London (GOAL 2012) would help to deliver:
Low carbon - building on the existing work of Transport for London. GOAL 2012 would create an environment that will encourage behaviour change to create even higher levels of walking and cycling, one of the most straightforward and immediately effective ways of reducing CO2 emissions from transport.
Improved health - encouraging cycling and walking to and around the Games encourages "active spectators", and provides a lasting network of routes that will allow healthy, active travel to school, work, shops and beyond.
Improved access and social inclusion - the GOAL 2012 routes pass through and link together many London Boroughs, bringing communities together. By enabling people to move around their local area and meet with and talk to each other, everyone will benefit, especially those most vulnerable on busy roads such as the young, the elderly and people with disabilities.
Neighbourhood renewal - GOAL 2012 links together a network of popular public spaces, reconnecting communities divided by busy roads, helping to regenerate neighbourhoods, repopulate both streets and green spaces, and encourage more active lifestyles.
Peter King British Cycling's Chief Executive commented:
“London 2012 is an unprecedented opportunity in British sport to showcase the very best of British sporting talent and to utilise that to inspire a new generation of active participants. Sustrans' GOAL 2012 would leave a real a legacy of infrastructure that will positively encourage people to cycle and walk both before, during and after the Games. Our early experiences with everydaycycling.com, which has been launched in response to our revised vision to increase participation not only in cycle sport but as an active recreation and living activity, has highlighted the importance of traffic free cycling friendly routes in changing people's activity levels. This is a fantastic vision for London 2012 that we must all get behind.”
For information on GOAL 2012 please contact Gill Harrison in the Sustrans press office on
0117 915 0108, www.sustrans.org.uk.
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