Give the car the boot - and walk

Robin Hanbury-Tenison, explorer, author and environmentalist has walked the length of the Great Wall of China, so it comes as no surprise to learn that he loves to walk in London.

Robin Hanbury-Tenison, explorer, author and environmentalist has walked the length of the Great Wall of China, so it comes as no surprise to learn that he loves to walk in London.

"Walking across London is hugely exciting. Travelling through London is always an adventure in itself - equally as valid as travelling through a rainforest." And as arduous. He may be undaunted by the cars, lorries and pollution they churn out, but then he is unusual.

In the food chain of Britain's transport system, the car is the Great White Shark. Down at the bottom, beneath the buses and the trains, is the beleaguered pedestrian, enjoying a status equivalent to that of a single-cell plankton.

The dominance of the car in Britain is reflected by the fact that the average Briton travels more than 5,400 miles by it every year, and a paltry 193 miles on foot. Annual car travel in Britain totals 280 billion miles, more than 40 round trips from Earth to Pluto.

In most of our cities anyone wanting to walk from A to B is presented with an assault course of bumper-to-bumper traffic, buses and lorries that squeeze through narrow inside lanes, their wing mirrors over-running the edge of pavements, and precarious crossings over busy trunk roads.

And then there is the pollution from car exhausts, a noxious mix of nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide. Small particles, usually of soot from diesel engines, exacerbate asthma problems and are also believed to link up with carcinogenic chemicals to lodge in the lungs. According to the Environmental Transport Association, all this delivers a bill of £11.1bn to the NHS every year.

Despite years of promises from central government, planning decisions continue to create trunk routes, ring roads and unwelcoming subways. The system does its level best to deter people from venturing out on foot. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has said he would have failed if, by the end of a Labour government, he had not reduced the total number of car journeys made every year. It hasn't happened yet (although there has been a reduction in the rate of increase).

Perhaps aware of this, the Government last week finally announced an initiative to encourage walking in cities. The Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee has been given a remit to examine the contribution of walking "to healthy living and reducing dependency on cars" and study ways in which walking within cities can be promoted and integrated with public transport. It will also consider whether to lay down national targets for the amount of city centre space that should be car-free.

The Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) issued advice to local authorities earlier this year, encouraging them to review their local transport networks to take more account of pedestrians. This is not before time. Even Mr Hanbury-Tenison recognises that conditions need to be improved for pedestrians. "There should be tolls on the outside of London. I think you should have to pay to bring a private car into town, unless you have a resident's parking permit," he said.

The comedienne Jo Brand is a regular and keen walker in the countryside of her native Shropshire but you won't see her on the streets of our major cities, either for pleasure or work. She supports any effort to improve matters. "I hate walking round London," she said. "It isn't very safe."

By contrast Gillian Shephard, the former Conservative Education Secretary, insists on walking in the capital as much as possible and has become a familiar sight striding through the streets. But even she drives to work and back because the two mile walk to her home south of the river is too dark, unpleasant and dangerous at night.

Much of what is required involves a relatively low investment. Traffic lights can favour pedestrians, traffic calming measures force cars to drive more slowly, large numbers of accessible road crossing points make walking safer, while signposts, benches and good lighting can all help encourage people to walk. Benefits to health are seen in lower rates of coronary heart disease, osteoporosis and obesity.

Even the smallest moderation of car use will bring an immediate impact. A third of all car journeys are less than a mile, a distance that takes just 15-20 minutes to walk, while 58 per cent of journeys are less than five miles. Driving within cities makes little economic sense for many of us, the RAC has said that if people were to travel more efficiently, 20 per cent of all car journeys could be avoided. York leads the way in the promotion of walking. The city has moved to establish a "road user hierarchy" that places pedestrians at the top and car users at the bottom, for a change. As a result, 15 per cent of people in York walk to work, compared with a national figure of seven per cent.

"The key thing was to pedestrianise the city centre," said Dan Johnson, a transport planner for the city council. "But a lot of it is just a question of tinkering. We've widened pavements, made traffic lights give priority to pedestrians and cyclists and made the walking areas more attractive. Good signposting, that directs pedestrians rather than motorists, is important."

The London General Assembly, which plans to part-pedestrianise Trafalgar Square, has issued a devastating report condemning the dominance of the car in the capital. The report, which forms part of Mayor Ken Livingstone's Draft Transport Strategy, highlights an urgent need to "reduce the unpleasantness, inconvenience and danger caused by motor vehicles."