Physical activity

Reviewed: 21/07/2025

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• Active travel

Background

Regular physical activity provides a range of physical and mental health benefits. These include reducing the risk of disease, managing existing conditions, and developing and maintaining physical and mental function. The UK Chief Medical Officers' guidelines provide recommendations on the frequency, intensity, duration and types of physical activity at different life stages, from early to later years. It is never too late to start being active. There is no minimum threshold for activity to achieve health benefits. In general the more time spent being physically active, the greater the health benefits, but the gains per extra active minute are especially great for those currently least active (fewer than 30 active minutes per week).

The experience of other countries tells us that getting the whole nation active every day will only happen if we involve all sectors. We need to embed physical activity into the fabric of daily life, making it an easy, cost-effective and ‘normal’ choice in every community in England.

Infographic from All our health

 

The Bolton picture

• Bolton JSNA physical activity morsel of the month
• Fingertips obesity, physical activity and nutrition profile
• Community sport provision across Greater Manchester - dashboard from Street Games
• GM active - local action to increase physical activity from a collaboration of 12 leisure and community organisations from across Greater Manchester
• Active Lives - detailed information from the leading source of physical activity information in England
• Active Places Power - information about existing sports facilities and tools to calculate demand for new facilities - from Sport England
• Active Lives small area estimates tool - from Sport England
• Bolton's active lives strategy
• Let's Keep Bolton Moving - find physical and other health and wellbeing activities taking place in Bolton
• Active workplaces toolkit - from GM moving

Further useful links

• Everybody active, every day: framework for physical activity - An evidence-based approach for national and local action to address the physical inactivity epidemic - from Public Health England
• Physical activity: applying All Our Health
• Everybody active, every day - An evidence-based approach to physical activity from Public Health England
• The Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines on physical activity for all ages
• Belonging starts with inclusion - research and resources from Sport England to support women from inclusion groups to become more active. Groups of fosu include: women on lower incomes; South Asian Muslim communities; Black communities; aged 55 years and over; pregnant and/ or have a child under one year old.
• NICE products related to physical activity
• Black girls and sport: a breakup story - from Women in Sport

Active travel

Also see Bolton JSNA - climate emergency and Bolton JSNA - built & natural environment (Transport)

Active travel is people powered travel - such as walking, wheeling, or cycling. 'Wheeling' means moving as a pedestrian with any kind of wheeled mobility aid (e.g. wheelchairs, mobility scooters, walking frames, prams or buggies) and is a term that many but not all disabled people identify with. Making more of our everyday journeys by active means is a particularly good way of incorporating physical activity into busy lives. This could be by cycling the whole way rather than driving, or by walking to and from the train station or bus stop.

The Third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy sets out a target that 55% trips under 5 mi (8 km) are walked or cycled by 2035.

Micromobility encompasses active travel plus non-people powered small vehicles such as e-scooters, mobility scooters, and hoverboards. These modes may have environmental, financial and accessibility benefits particularly if their use replaces journeys made by private car, but they will not have the physical activity benefits of active travel. Cycle infrastructure can support the use of wider forms of micromobility. E-cycles meeting the UK's Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle rules are legally pedal cycles, so are a form of active travel as the e-assist cuts out at speeds above 25 kmph/ 15.5 mph and is only active while pedalling. E-cycles may be particularly suitable for carrying cargo, for use in hilly areas, or for use by people less confident in their physical fitness.

According to the latest (2024) GM TRADS data for Bolton, 70% of Bolton residents' journeys are no more than 5 km/ 3 mi (up to 20 mins to cycle at a moderate 15 kmph/ 9 mph) - 32% are currently made by walking/ cycling, and 62% by car/ van. 46% of Bolton residents' journeys are no more than 2 km/ 1mi; (up to 25 mins to walk at 5 kmph/ 3 mph, or 10 mins to cycle) - 48% of these are currently made by walking/ cycling, and 50% by car/ van.

The GM walking and cycling index 2025, which included Bolton residents, found that 67% of Greater Manchester residents thought the level of safety for walking/ wheeling in their local area was good (45% thought it was good for children). Perceptions of safety when cycling were lowest of any mode, at 42% (30% thought it was good for children). The report notes that safety, including road safety and personal safety, is the single largest barrier to cycling. Disabled people, women, and older people tended to feel their area was less safe for cycling, while disabled peopel felt much less safe while walking/ wheeling. 22% of residents want to drive less, yet 43% of residents often use a car because no other transport options are available.

Residents want better streets. 80% thought nicer places along streets to stop and rest, like more benches trees and shelters would support them to walk/ wheel more.

The Bolton picture

• Also see resources in the general physical activity section above
• GM walking & cycling index. A children's walking & cycling index is now available for the UK as a whole
• Walking & cycling index data explorer - from Walk Wheel Cycle Trust
• GM Travel Diary Survey (TRADS)
• GM TRADS - district summaries 2024
• Walking and cycling index data tool - from Sustrans
• GM active travel annual reports
• Bikedata - road data including collision mapping, cycleability rating of streets
• Propensity to cycle tool - tool for transport planners and policy makers designed to answer the question 'where is cycling currently common and where does it have the greatest potential to grow?'
• People for Bikes city ratings
• Mapping tool from Active Travel England

Other useful links

• Also see resources in the general physical activity section above
• Active travel research and data - from Sport England
• Cycling and walking for for individual and population health benefits - A rapid evidence review for health and care system decision-makers - from Public Health England
• Active Travel England
• GM streets for all strategy - TfGM's plan to design more welcoming and greener streets - which enable people to incorporate more physical activity into their daily lives; clean air; which are safe and secure for everyone; which provide good access to public transport and which are accessible for those with mobility impairments. Includes a design guide for use in on highway, public realm, and other schemes.
• Perceptions of personal safety and experiences of harassment - from ONS. People felt less safe walking alone in all settings after dark than during the day; with women feeling less safe than men in all settings after dark. Disabled people felt less safe in all settings than non-disabled people. Parks and other open spaces showed the biggest difference between daytime and after dark, with 82% of women feeling unsafe after dark in this setting vs 42% of men.
• Planning for active places - from Active Travel England. Draws together existing policy and guidance on a range of topics that support walking, wheeling and cycling within the built environment.
• Tackling the gender 'pedal gap' - 2023 report from Lime and Opinium on addressing women's night safety
• Gear change - cycling & walking plan for England
• GM Active travel design guide - outlines quality standards that must be followed for GM active bee Network schemes
• Local Transport Note (LTN) 1/20 - guidance for local authorities on designing high quality, safe cycle infrastructure which is accessible for users of non-standard cycles
• Cycling by design - guidance for permanent cycling infrastructure design on all roads, streets and paths in Scotland - from Transport Scotland
• Active travel wayfinding manual - from Liverpool City Region
• Social safety criteria on routes for women and girls - from London Cycling Campaign
• Statutory guidance - network management to support active travel - this guidance sets out the range of measures councils may consider in fulfilling their requirement to reallocate road space to walking and cycling, together with monitoring and evaluation approaches for these measures. Now withdrawn but still contains useful information.
• Pedestrian slips, trips and falls - evaluation of their causes, impact, scale and cost from Living Streets
• National travel attitudes survey
• Walking and cycling speeds
• Evaluating the impact of active travel investment - from Active Travel England
• What interventions increase active travel? - systematic literature review. Interventions aimed at changing behaviour without environmental or infrastructure changes had little impact and needed to be repeated for any impact to be maintained. Schemes combining infrastructure change with social/behavioural programmes had more impact, also those involving e-bikes, and potentially cycle-sharing schemes.
• Sustrans research - research relating to benefits of walking and cycling for the individual and society, covering topics from health and wellbeing to the environment and economy. Sustrans is the charity making it easier for everyone to walk, wheel and cycle