UK Walking Summit
HOW DO WE DEMONSTRATE THE VALUE AND IMPACT OF WALKING FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOODS?
Our UK Walking Summit 2024 took place in Sheffield on Thursday 7 March.
You can read our round-up of the event and see photos from the day here. We were joined by a fantastic set of speakers, who you can find out more about below.
Thank you to everyone who came along, presented, led walks, exhibited - we hope you had a great day!
Watch this space for details of our UK Walking Summit 2025!
Ed Clancy OBE at our UK Walking Summit 2024
PARTNER WITH US
Commercial opportunities are available for the UK Walking Summit 2025, click below to email our Corporate Partnerships team for more information.
Susan Claris
Active Travel Transport Planner & Vice President, Living Streets
Susan is a transport planner and anthropologist with a particular interest in how walkability creates more liveable, vibrant, safe, inclusive and healthy streets and communities. She is Vice President of Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking, a Parish Councillor for the village of Sandgate in Kent and Deputy Chair of Cycle Shepway. Susan worked for Arup for 30 years and prior to this for the Department of Transport.
keynotes
Vishaan Chakrabarti
Founder & Creative Director, Practice for Architecture & Urbanism
With over thirty years of proven experience authoring and implementing visionary urban architecture, Vishaan Chakrabarti leads PAU’s growing global portfolio of cultural, institutional, and public projects. Check out Vishaan’s Ted Talk
Oliver Coppard
Mayor of South Yorkshire
Oliver has been South Yorkshire's Mayor since May 2022. He was elected with 71% of the vote.
As Mayor, his stated priorities are improving public transport, building a bigger, better economy, reducing health inequalities and accelerating progress to net zero.
He leads the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, and through the MCA works with the local Council leaders of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield, the government, as well as private sector partners, the third sector and other, significant stakeholders from across South Yorkshire.
Guy Opperman MP
Minister for Roads and Local Transport at the Department for Transport
Dame Jane Roberts
Chair of Trustees, Living Streets
Jane is a Research Fellow in Public Leadership at The Open University Business School and a member of the Remuneration Board of the Welsh Assembly. She was previously a councillor for 16 years at the London Borough of Camden, and Leader of the Council from 2000 to 2005.
Professionally, Jane is a medical doctor and an Honorary Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist with experience of senior healthcare management in the NHS.
Jane has published a number of academic articles in paediatrics, psychiatry and politics. She co-edited the book 'The Politics of Attachment' and is the author of 'Losing Political Office’.
panellists
Ed Clancy OBE
South Yorkshire Active Travel Commissioner
Ed Clancy OBE is the most successful Team Pursuit cyclist in history, having won gold with Team GB at three successive Olympics.
Ed has also collected World and European titles in the Team Pursuit and omnium.
Ed was born in Barnsley and grew up in Yorkshire. Since retirement from Team GB he has worked with British Cycling, British Triathlon, Pursuit Line, the Clancy Briggs Cycling Academy, and Cycle Accident Management Services.
In February 2023, Ed became Active Travel Commissioner for South Yorkshire.
Mark Corbin
Director of Network Resilience, Transport for West Midlands
Mark Corbin has over 25 years’ experience working in the Automotive and Highways sectors.
He is the Director of Network Resilience at Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), and chair of the Adept National Traffic Managers Forum. He leads a team within TfWM collaborating and working with multiple organisations including the seven local authorities in the West Midlands, Department for Transport, National Highways, HS2, Network Rail and others keeping residents, businesses and visitors informed of transport disruption helping them to plan journeys and keep moving as well.
He is recognised nationally by his colleagues as an innovator and a genuine collaborator, seeking to make things happen with a holistic approach.
Julia Crear
Head of Projects and Technical Services, Living Streets
Julia provides a breadth of technical experience including the original development of Living Streets community and school engagement methodology.
Since 2005 Julia has held numerous roles within the charity to support and promote our charitable aims. She and her team work in England, Scotland and Wales engaging with local government, private, sector, communities, schools and workplaces on their priorities for walking and improving the built environment.
Matt Higgins
Senior Transport Planner and Active Travel Lead for the North West and Yorkshire, Arup
Matt has a wealth of experience developing policy and delivering projects across the public and private sector, with experience working at Transport for London, the Department for Transport and Arup.
Councillor Christine Gilligan Kubo
Deputy Chair of the Transport, Regeneration and Climate Policy Committee, Sheffield City Council
Green Party Councillor, Hillsborough ward, Sheffield, and Deputy Chair of the Transport, Regeneration and Climate Committee. A keen walker wanting to promote the great opportunities for walking in Sheffield.
Graham Grant
Director of Planning and Development, Active Travel England
Formerly Assistant Director for Transport at Newcastle City Council, Graham has 15 years’ experience working in local and regional government. He led a team of more than 200 people and was responsible for all aspects of transport as the lead for the highway authority. This included development, design, and implementation of both policy and projects as well as overseeing teams that were statutory consultees in the planning process.
Kerry Perruzza
Strategic Transportation Manager, Doncaster Council
Accomplished Transport Planner with a passion for achieving place transformation and health outcomes through the sustainable transport agenda. Delivering on an ambitious plan to create a better connected and safer network of walking and cycling routes in Doncaster so that residents are benefiting from having greater choice over how they travel.
Wil Stewart
Director of Investment, Climate Change and Planning, Sheffield City Council
Wil Stewart is an urban development professional with 20 years’ experience in the regeneration, development, planning and property fields. He has worked across the public, private and third sectors in a range of strategic development and delivery roles, including leading for the Greater London Authority on strategic land and investment projects, consulting for a leading multidisciplinary property company and working on local regeneration projects in inner urban neighbourhoods.
Wil currently works as Director of Investment, Climate Change and Planning at Sheffield City Council and is passionate about creating great places, promoting climate sustainability and supporting Sheffield’s communities to thrive in their city.
WALKSHOPS AND WORKSHOPS
Walk 1
The blue loop: riverside waymaking in the Don Valley
Taking in successful river restoration, new sustainable travel plans and the redeveloped Victoria Quays
Led by Living Streets
Walk 2
Post-industrial reinvention: Kelham Island and Grey to Green
Showcasing new neighbourhoods, approaches to street design and urban transformation.
Led by Sheffield County Council
Walk 3
Reimagining city centre spaces: Tudor Square, Fitzalan Square and Esperanto Place
A tour of pedestrian areas, traffic removal and improved public realm.
Led by Sheffield County Council
Walk 4
A journey through the history of public health
Focusing on walking, social prescribing and clean air, this route takes in Park Hill, Norfork Park and the Cholera Monument.
Led by Dr Jo Maher on behalf of South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority
Walk 5
Can we wheely get about?
How to create equitable mobility for disabled people walking and wheeling in urban spaces.
Led by Wheels for Wellbeing
Walk 6
Clean air in the city
Walking and using natural indicators to learn about air pollution.
Led by Sheffield Environment Movement
Walk 7
Flared junctions and the walk to school - what next?
An in-venue workshop to come up with a 'flared junction strategy' for local campaigners.
Led by Living Streets' Sheffield South West local group
Walk 8
Online workshops with Living Streets experts
A choice of workshops on 'bridging the gap between research and policy for inclusive streets' and 'working alongside communities for change'.
Led by Living Streets
We thank Sheffield City Council and South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority for hosting the 2024 UK Walking Summit.
The 2024 UK Walking Summit was generously supported by Tracsis.
Tracsis is a leading provider of software, hardware, data analytics/GIS and services for the rail, traffic data and wider transport industries. Tracsis’ purpose is to empower the world to move freely, safely and sustainably.
The 2024 UK Walking Summit was generously sponsored by Arup.
Dedicated to sustainable development, Arup is a collective of 18,500 designers, advisors and experts working across 140 countries. Founded to be both humane and excellent, we collaborate with our clients and partners using imagination, technology and rigour to shape a better world. Arup have been longstanding supporters of the Living Streets Summit and we're delighted to have them support us again this year.