Submission writing is one of our most effective ways to influence policy decisions to benefit pedestrians - that is everyone - and is one of the most important ways of shaping your community.
Decision makers feel more accountable when they realise that people care about what they're doing, and are prepared to tell them what they think. The more people who support or oppose a plan, the harder it is for Councillors and others to ignore their views. Submissions don't need to be elaborate written expositions - they can be as simple as you want to make them - you do need to make them though if you want your voice to be heard. Check out our great resources for ideas on how to do your submission.
Living Streets has recently completed submissions on
- the national Vehicle Dimension and Mass Rule change proposals. We made two key points here one about the impact of larger vehicles on pedestrians and pedestrian safety, and one on the impact of increased road freight on more environmentally-friendly freight movement by rail or sea.
- the Future of Mobility Select Committee Inquiry. We noted that walking is as old as humans and will continue into the foreseeable future as the main way people get around as this hadn't been recognised in the discussions. We noted the exciting new technologies available to make walking better - like countdown clocks and smart crossings, we highlighted the new health technologies to help people maintain mobility like hip and knee replacements, we emphasised walkings place as the mode with the least environmental impact of any transport mode and therefore its importance to climate change mitigations. We noted that better funding for walking infrastructure would optimise its use and increase walking, and its key link to public transport use.
We were also involved in developing the next Census transport questions through a very interactive process and wrote a submission on that.
You can find all the submissions we make for pedestrians on our Submission page.