Active Travel Festival Chester 12 June

Chester Cycling Campaign has taken a leading role, alongside local partner groups, to develop, plan and promote Chester's first ever Active Travel Festival to be held on 18th June 2023.

By Active Travel we mean Cycling, Walking or Wheeling (scooters, wheel chairs, adapted bikes and scooters, ...). Our objective is to positively encourage local residents to think about using active travel options to get into and through Chester, for those journeys of 1-3 miles. Active Travel infrastructure in Chester has its problems but the City is far more accessible than most people realise and any form of active travel has the recognised benefits of improving health and wellbeing, as well as helping the environment. The Festival is intended to initiate an important change in attitudes to promote active travel as a practical option for everyone, including those with mobility issues.

The main festival site will be the middle car park in front of Chester castle where we will have a range of attractions and events which will be informative, entertaining and fun. But we will also help participants to find the best routes into the City and thus make their trip part of the enjoyment and learning experience.

With the full support of Active Travel England it is our intention to use this festival as a catalyst to encourage more active travel and to establish a precedence for future similar events in Chester and across the Cheshire West area. Any increase in Active Travel will help the Council achieve their declared objective to reduce car usage by 25% by 2025.

Providing an event which is attractive, interesting and motivating to school children and their families will encourage everyone to discover the benefits of active travel. Thus our focus so far has been to work with all of the 40+ schools in the Chester area, to encourage their participation. In the attached document you will see the background information that we have been sharing with schools.

The festival will also provide a family focused opportunity to celebrate Fathers Day and we are keen to encourage all existing local community groups and individuals to support and participate in the event. Therefore we would be very pleased if you can help promote this event.

More details can be seen on the festival website at https://atfest.uk/
With thanks for your attention and best wishes
For more information please contact Stephen Perry, on behalf of the ATfest team
Tel: 07775 781204
Email: stephen@atfest.uk