Active Travel Social Prescribing Feasibility Study – City of Doncaster Council

Can ‘socially prescribed’ walking and cycling improve health and wellbeing?

City of Doncaster Council (CDC) wanted to submit a bid for funding from the Active Travel Social Prescribing pilot scheme, run by the Department for Transport (DfT). Social prescribing involves referring patients to community services or activities to improve their health and well-being. The DfT Active Travel Social Prescribing pilot offered £13.9m to selected local authorities over three years, to pilot ways in which walking and cycling could be prescribed by GPs to improve health and promote active modes of transport.

CDC was keen to apply for funding to address health inequalities in the disadvantaged Balby area of the city. Balby has high levels of inactivity and unemployment, with 44% of residents having never engaged in moderate physical activity. The council felt that prescribing walking groups, cycle training and other walking and cycling activities could help local people become more active and improve their physical and mental well-being.

CDC commissioned SYSTRA’s specialist multi-disciplinary team to undertake and deliver a feasibility study within the eight-week timescale set by the DfT. To access the funding, it needed to demonstrate that money allocated to Doncaster would deliver value and result in the desired health improvements and a shift to more walking and cycling locally. The council also needed to develop referral pathways for walking and cycling activities in the area.

The pilot scheme represented an incredible opportunity for Doncaster to access significant new funding and take part in an important national pilot linking active travel with health improvements.

Multi-disciplinary feasibility study completed in just six weeks

SYSTRA completed all elements of the funding submission, as required by DfT, including:

• Traditional transport planning, including mapping the local infrastructure, identifying local demographics and existing levels of walking and cycling activity.
• Budgeting and economic appraisals to determine value for money.
• Extensive stakeholder engagement.
• Identifying an action plan, monitoring and evaluation plans.
• Developed a Theory of Change to demonstrate the potential impact of the pilot.

SYSTRA was responsible for project managing the entire programme, and writing all sections of the council’s submission to the DfT. Despite the challenging timeframe, the complete feasibility study was delivered to a high standard in just six weeks.

Successful bid wins funding to promote healthier lifestyles

The funding bid compiled by SYSTRA was a great success. Doncaster was one of only 11 councils, out of the 33 that applied, awarded funding under the pilot scheme. The council was delighted to receive £665,000 to develop its active travel social prescribing programme.

It means that people identified as requiring help to get active and improve their health can now be prescribed walking and cycling activities by their GP. It is hoped that making these activities more widely available to those in the most deprived areas of Doncaster will have a measurable impact on health and well-being.

Following our successful feasibility study, SYSTRA was also awarded the contract to carry out the monitoring and evaluation for this pilot scheme. That means our Social & Market Research team will be responsible for monitoring the impact of the scheme in Doncaster over the three-year funding period.

The feasibility study was the start of a new working relationship with City of Doncaster Council (CDC). SYSTRA has since been awarded two projects to help develop walking and cycling routes in the city and developed the walking strategy – supporting the council to deliver on its active travel strategy.

• Get Involved in Cycling – Doncaster City Council
• Ride, Stride and Thrive – Doncaster’s Active Travel Social Prescribing pilot.