Manoeuvring rural mobility policy for active and sustainable travel

Promoting “slow mobilities” and low carbon transport alternatives, through supporting active and sustainable travel (AST, including walking, cycling, wheeling, and public transport), is a priority for both public health and net zero strategies. Using a situational analysis drawing on local and national documents and stakeholder interviews, we explore the policy ecology of local authority ambitions and practices for creating and implementing AST policy for rural communities. These are shaped by national agendas and messaging, as well as local concerns. Our analysis identified the ways in which stakeholders manoeuvre the friction points that inform, constrain, and shape the production and implementation of AST policy in the South West (SW) and North East (NE) of England. The marginality of rural concerns is reflected in a scarcity of funding, sitting alongside volatility in local and national decision making. Local contestation arises from these conditions, as turbulence in national government messaging shapes (and is shaped by) public and private responses to AST schemes. These friction points were found to operate on, and intersect at, different scales, requiring formal strategic and opportunistic tactical manoeuvres by those creating and implementing local policies, who are both bound by these forces, and work to challenge, resist, and facilitate them whilst managing contestation from communities and stakeholders. This study on AST policymaking contributes to broader literature across various disciplines on “slow mobilities” by offering a policy-oriented perspective. Our findings highlight that creating and implementing policy for rural mobility is a dynamic and demanding process, relying on the commitment and agility of local stakeholders.