Planes, trains and automobiles the preferred choices of travel as Britain gives walking the boot

Walking has taken another backwards step with the publication of official statistics showing that Britons are making far fewer journeys by foot than a generation ago. Despite official advertising campaigns urging people to stride out for their health, the Government's annual transport survey showed that walking was declining.

While the average person walked 255 miles in 1975 when Harold Wilson was prime minister, that figure fell to 197 miles under Tony Blair last year, according to the latest figures from the Department for Transport released yesterday.

Cycling also declined over the 30 years by 42 per cent, from 51 miles to 36. Car drivers drove twice as much, resulting in the average person travelling by car for 5,746 miles a year. Between 1989 and 2005, the number of people flying around the UK - a particular irritation to environmentalists - almost trebled from 4 to 11 per cent.

The campaign group Transport 2000 described the figures in the survey, which was based on diaries kept by 8,400 householders, as "depressing reading".

Doctors blame lack of physical activity along with poor diet for causing obesity, which has trebled in the past 20 years. About two-thirds of adults are now officially overweight or obese. Pollution emitted by cars and planes is also speeding up climate change.

The Department of Transport's 2005 survey excluded figures dating back to 1975, which reveal a starker trend towards motorised transport, but included comparative figures for 1995-97.

Between 1995 and 2005, the number of trips taken by an average person fell by 4 per cent to little more than 1,000 a year but the distance travelled rose by 3 per cent, meaning that the average person now travels 7,208 miles a year domestically. (Foreign travel is excluded from the survey). There was a 16 per cent decline in journeys by foot, with the total distance falling by three miles. Fewer children walked to school, with the number of primary pupils being driven rising by 5 per cent and secondary pupils by 2 per cent, confirming the rise of the "school run".

Cyclists covered 16 per cent fewer miles annually.

But there were some bright spots in a cloudy sky for health and the environment. In London, the number of miles travelled by bus rose by 58 per cent and by Tube by 13 per cent.

Miles travelled by train rose by 44 per cent nationally, though bus travel outside London fell by 6 per cent. The Department of Transport said that the decline in walking was "levelling off" and expressed the hope that it would eventually increase.

"With increased economic prosperity cars are one of the things people choose to spend their money on," said a spokeswoman.

"We are making unprecedented investment in transport. We are trying to give people choices about how they travel and make public transport a real option. More people are travelling on the railways than since the 1960s."

However, Transport 2000's executive director, Stephen Joseph, said that the Government's transport policy was "not working". He added: "We now have a situation where people have to travel further and spend more time to do the same journey. When it comes to public transport, it's a bleak picture.

"While London is bucking the national trend and people are increasingly using the bus, in the rest of the country, bus journeys are falling."

He continued: "The Government needs to introduce road pricing, improve public transport and promote walking and cycling."

David Haslam, the clinical director of the National Obesity Forum, said that he was "not surprised" by the decline in walking and cycling.

"It's remarkable the amount of obesity we are seeing in clinical practice," said the Hertfordshire GP. Children are not realising they are obese because their friends are the same. It is quite clear that children are being less active."

Fewer journeys by foot

* Walking has slumped in the past 30 years from 255 miles in 1975 to 197 miles. Only a third of the population now walks for at least 20 minutes, three times a week. In the last decade the number of primary pupils walking to school has fallen from 53 per cent to 49 per cent.

* Although there are reports of a revival in cycling, figures for the decade to last year show a fall. The number of miles covered by bicycle fell by 16 per cent between 1995 and 2005.

* Car drivers are driving double the amount they were 30 years ago. About 80 per cent of journeys are now made by car.

* Rail travel has gone up 44 per cent in 10 years. The average commute has increased in length by 6 per cent.

Source: National Travel Survey 2005, Department for Transport

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