Active travel commissioner for South Yorkshire Dame Sarah Storey has announced she is stepping down from the role, after three years of leading and delivering improvements for the region’s walking and cycle network.Â
Storey, a multiple gold medallist in the Paralympic Games and six times British national track champion, was appointed as the region’s first active travel commissioner in April 2019. She has worked closely with the mayor of South Yorkshire, Dan Jarvis, to secure government funding for active travel projects with the aim of making them accessible to all.
Together Storey and Jarvis created the Active Travel Implementation Plan for South Yorkshire, which details how over 1,000km of routes, 800m of safe crossings and 230km2 of low traffic neighbourhoods will help to transform the region by 2040.
The partnership also secured over half the £166m Transforming Cities Fund for active travel schemes, and £5.4m of the government’s Active Travel Fund to improve walking and cycling routes.
Mayor of South Yorkshire, Dan Jarvis, said: “It has been an amazing three years for Active Travel in South Yorkshire during which time we’ve seen a paradigm shift in our approach as a result of the incredible commitment from Dame Sarah. I want to thank her for her extraordinary efforts which have resulted in enabling many more people in South Yorkshire to walk and cycle.
“Not only has Sarah quite literally helped put active travel on the map by helping us win unprecedented levels of infrastructure funding, but during her time as Commissioner, she has won another seven world titles, three Paralympic medals and broke the world record for the 3,000m track! What an outstanding record of achievement.
“It has been a wonderful pleasure to work with Sarah – she really is a superstar and I wish her and her family the very best of luck for the future.”
