Draft Active Travel Strategy Consultation 2025

Overview

Scottish Borders Council has a vision to make active travel (walking, wheeling, cycling and horse riding) the natural first choice for everyday journeys across the Scottish Borders.  

This Draft Active Travel Strategy is focused on encouraging people to make sustainable travel choices, wherever possible. The Strategy organises, communicates, manages, delivers and monitors current and future active travel projects and initiatives.   It will act as the framework for how the council delivers active travel change in our communities over the next 10 years.  

A Delivery Plan complements the Active Travel Strategy; acting as a bank of active travel projects and measures that could be implemented as funding becomes available. The Delivery Plan is a live document that can be updated throughout the lifetime of the Strategy.   

A consultation exercise on Shared Access Routes took place in early 2024 as part of a wider strategy from the Council to help link communities together, promote more active travel and encourage opportunities for economic development and job creation.  Your feedback helped inform the Draft Active Travel Strategy’s five priority routes and establish the strategic objectives.  The four key themes were then developed, reflecting the priorities of the Strategy, outlining the actions that will be taken forward through the Strategy’s lifecycle to 2035. 

Why your views matter

This consultation is intended to confirm if the Draft Active Travel Strategy meets the needs and wants of our communities. The consultation will also seek to gather support that the strategy is an effective framework for delivering the required future infrastructure and behaviour change initiatives that will enable an increased use of active travel, where possible, for everyday journeys within the Scottish Borders.   

The consultation is now live and will be open for feedback until 31 August 2025.  

Scottish Borders Council Active Travel and Transport Team are hosting a series of in-person events across the region. These events provide an opportunity to give direct feedback on the Strategy or discuss aspects of the Strategy in more detail with the team. The programme of events is outlined in the table below. 

• AM events occur between 10am – 12pm
• PM events occur between 1pm – 3pm 

The what3words for where the team will be positioned at each location have been included in the table below.  

The venues for additional events are currently being confirmed. Please return to this page for updated information.

Due to the weather warning in place for Monday 04 August, the events in Lauder and Melrose have been cancelled.

Paper copies and other formats of the questionnaire will be available on request to the Active Travel and Transport Team.  

Please contact activetravel@scotborders.gov.uk if you have any questions or require further assistance. 

Below is the Draft Active Travel Strategy.