There is a cost of living crisis in the UK, so let's talk about money. People need to spend less, the country needs to spend less, so how do we do more with less?

Chris Whitty, the UK's chief medical officer, has made a suggestion. Recently, he has been promoting the benefits of active travel, which means walking and cycling. He says the benefits “cannot be overstated” and that “people will live longer, happier lives if they have active travel and we can make it attractive enough”.

It turns out that propelling yourself around is what the human body is designed to do and is natural for us. He said that this form of gentle, regular exercise over short distances reduces diabetes, heart disease and many cancers and could save the NHS up to £1.3 billion per year through improvements in mental as well as physical health.

Of course, building active travel infrastructure such as cycle tracks is not cheap, but the return on investment is estimated at £5.62 for every pound invested in infrastructure. Conversely, most road schemes barely break even.

The medical journal The BMJ also says that individual households can benefit too, by up to £1,700 per year, by cutting vehicle, fuel, maintenance and parking costs. And you can claim back 20p per mile in income tax for commuting by bike and get paid for general bike usage using the BetterPoints app.

So, with all this scientific evidence piling up, what can be done locally in Farnham? On the theme of doing more with less, many people would like to get more cars across town in less time by investing more in some changes after the Farnham Infrastructure Programme finishes.

The problem is that Farnham has had a huge amount of money spent on it already, and the new West Surrey Council will inherit a huge debt. So getting more money for roads will be very difficult, and I suspect the new council will be focusing on doing less with less.

So, to tackle car congestion, maybe the answer is to get more people walking and cycling for some of their journeys – not all – into town. Investments in active travel infrastructure are funded by the UK Government and not by our county council. Technical studies have been carried out across the outer areas of Farnham in 2026 to understand the costs of building active travel infrastructure, and we are hopeful that our new councillors will finally deliver some new shared walking and cycling tracks.

Sadly, the Farnham Infrastructure Programme Board decided not to build any cycle tracks, or even carry out costing analysis, in most of central Farnham, but we still believe that the town’s school run could be reduced if better walking and cycling routes were provided on the outskirts.

We are also pushing councillors for a few quick wins in the centre, such as a safe crossing of Castle Street to join up the two halves of the Scholars Greenway, which runs from Potters Gate to William Cobbett schools.

To promote this, we are organising a fun and free Glow Ride along this route on October 22. This will be a chance for adults and children to dress up their bikes with lights and cycle along the route in the early evening.

We are looking for marshals to help, so please get in touch with us if you can spare a couple of hours.