Fife Council has approved a new Active Travel Strategy and Action Plan (ATSAP) for 2025–2035, setting out a long-term vision to enable more people to walk, wheel and cycle across the region.
The strategy, agreed at last week’s cabinet committee, is aimed to guide investment in high-quality routes, safer connections, and practical initiatives to encourage more to consider the environmental impact and health benefits of walking, wheeling or cycling when undertaking everyday journeys.
The vision for the strategy is: “More people are enabled to walk, wheel and cycle more often for functional and recreational journeys in Fife.”
Through the Action Plan, Fife Council and its partners aim to: build and maintain safe, high-quality walking, wheeling and cycling routes, improve links between active travel and public transport; provide training, bike access and led walks/rides to help more people get started; run behaviour change campaigns and initiatives to encourage healthier, low-carbon travel choices; and empower local communities in Fife to create change, through infrastructure working groups and behaviour change initiatives.
Key targets and commitments are to: increase active travel by growing the proportion of trips walked, wheeled or cycled from 23% in 2019 to 30% by 2033; improve accessibility through boosting the proportion of bus, active travel and town centre infrastructure meeting modern accessibility standards by 20% by 2033; increase the number of people who feel safe walking, wheeling and cycling by 20% by 2033; reduce Fife’s transport emissions by 56% by 2030, in line with national climate goals; and achieve a 20% cut in total car kilometres travelled by 2030.
Councillor Altany Craik, spokesperson for Finance, Economy & Strategic Planning, said: “Our ambitious Active Travel Strategy will deliver improvements that benefit everyone – from better air quality and healthier lifestyles, to safer and cheaper ways of getting to work, school or the shops. Walking, wheeling and cycling should be the natural choice for short journeys in Fife.
“Rebalancing the shift away from cars is vital to tackle climate change. To make this happen, people need safe, traffic-free routes where they can travel with confidence. This strategy lays out how we will deliver that.”
The Active Travel Strategy has been shaped by bringing in views from community councils, equality groups, businesses, climate groups and residents. Projects will be developed locally and prioritised annually, with communities encouraged to help shape routes and behaviour-change initiatives.
An interactive map of the proposed Fife-wide network will also be published online, highlighting local and strategic connections including the National Cycle Network.
