It’s Official: ESCC is at the bottom of UK Gov rankings for the delivery of Active Travel

The UK Government assesses all Local Authorities for their delivery of safe, high-quality walking, wheeling and cycling.

Local Authorities are rated annually from 0 to 4, based on Local leadership and support, LCWIP Maturity and Schemes delivered.

in 2024, not a single Local Authority scored 0. The lowest score achieved was 1. In the event, East Sussex County Council scored 1 again in 2024, showing no improvement on 2023.

In an attempt to put a brave face on things when quietly announcing the results, East Sussex County Council claim that (back in 2022 when the assesment was announced) ‘it was Active Travel England’s* expectation that most local authorities would score either a Level 1 or Level 2’.

The sad reality is that nearly half of the 80 Local Authorities scored 2 or above, including all the surrounding Local Authorities (Kent, Surrey, Hampshire), and ESCC, together with Swindon, Dorset and Cornwall are outliers, not in a good way, across the whole of the South of England. Well deserved congratulations to Kent which managed to improve from a 1 to a 2 this year. And muted congratulations to West Sussex which managed to drag itself up from a 0 to a 1 this year.

So, well done ESCC, this level of inactivity requires quite some skill. We’re planning a whip-round of the office to pay for some medals.

The full report can be found here.

*Active Travel are the Government agency responsible for assessing Local Authorities.