|
|
54-57 Allison Street Digbeth,
Birmingham, B5 5TH
0121 632 6753 |
30/12/2004
References for Acocks Green
1.
Cycling network & model
The Cycling
network & model proposal is based on ‘Cycling
in Towns and Cities’, European Union, http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/cycling/cycling_en.pdf
CYCLING
and SOCIAL INCLUSION increasing cycling rates can
be implemented and does improve social exclusion
A
PHYSICALLY ACTIVE LIFE THROUGH EVERYDAY TRANSPORT
2.
Diabetes
·
Diabetes is increasing
at 10% year.
·
There are 26,400
people in Acocks Green (census) = 1/40th population of Birmingham
·
5% of the population
are diabetic =1320 diabetics, figures will increase in 100% in 10 years =2640
diabetics in 2015
·
if 25% extra cycle,
they will be less likely to become diabetic 2640 x 25% = 330
·
http://www.rcn.org.uk/news/congress2002/congressitems/diabetes.php
(1000s of other similar references)
3.
Obesity
·
Obesity costs account
for about ~9% of health care costs (causing diabetes, heart disease, arthritis,
cancer etc) http://www.idfa.org.uk/publications/HOC_obesity.pdf
& http://my.webmd.com/content/article/64/72524.htm
·
Obesity increasing
at 70%/decade =17% in 2015 (http://www.healthaffairs.org/press/mayjune0302.htm)
(but even these will double in the next 10 years, so the savings will be greater…obesity
will then cost 24% of the health care budget unless action is taken by 2025)
·
Heath costs of Acocks
Green = £1b x 1/40th (£1b is the health cost of the city/year)
= £25m/year
·
Obesity costs £25m/year
x 17% for Acocks Green = £4.25m will be due to obesity in 2015…
·
if 25% people exercised,
then their obesity would be at least in part prevented…£4.25 x 25%= £1.06m
·
Slow speeds increase
physical activity: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
4.
Road Traffic Accidents
·
http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2004/infomaterials/world_report/en/
http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2004/infomaterials/world_report/en/main_messages_en.pdf
·
Costs equate to £1m
for each death/serious injury
·
120 deaths/serious
injuries/year in Birmingham= costs £120m
·
for Acocks Green
120/40 = 3 deaths/serious injury/year, @£3m
·
reducing speeds by
10mph reduces deaths and serious injury by half …saving £3m x ½= £1.5m
(http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2004/infomaterials/world_report/en/speed_en.pdf)
5.
Crime
·
Crime costs the UK
£60b/year, so Birmingham’s costs will be about £1b/year,
http://www.gateshead.gov.uk/CrimeAudit5.pdf.
·
£1b x 1/40th
= £25m/Acocks Green
·
Antisocial behaviour
is reduced by sport/physical activity:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
·
Exercise and sport
reduce antisocial behaviour 27-75% http://www.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/2003/aic/rpp49.pdf
& here http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/ti249.pdf
·
Crime costs would
be reduced, with a 25% cycling rate, by £2-5m in Acocks Green
·
Birmingham has twice
the average crime http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk/02/cracking_crime/my_area/results/html/cn.stm
·
Crime rates are much
lower in Holland, where cycling is far more popular http://www.justitie.nl/english/press/press_releases/archive/archive_2004/121004Dutch_Cabinet_safer_place.asp
6.
Cancer
·
Commuting physical
activity prevents cancer
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15496538
·
More evidence that
exercise prevents cancer
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Display&dopt=pubmed_pubmed&from_uid=15496538
&
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12442559
7.
Education
·
Education, Birmingham,
£1b/year, £1b x 1/40th = £25m/Acocks Green
·
Educational achievement
increases 18% with sports programs
·
If 25% cycle regularly
, there will be a (£25m x 25% x 18% =) £1.125 saving http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/ti249.pdf
·
Health behaviours
predictors of educational level in adulthood http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12821008 & http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10396520
·
Exercise, good health, and educational level
are all linked http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15539045
8.
Mental Health
·
Depression is prevented
by regular exercise
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
/, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
·
·
exercise produces
a 50% improvement in mental health
·
Mental health costs
are £3m/year in Acocks Green…
is 25% extra people cycled, they would be 50% less likely to be depressed,
a saving of about £0.3m in Acocks Green
·
physical exercise
improves self-efficacy (this is an indirect measure of mental health/substance
abuse etc)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15514962
9.
Drug Use
·
Physical exercise
reduces problem behaviour http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12395145
·
Reduction is about
30% http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/ti249.pdf
in those that exercise, so a 25% increase in cycling would reduce drug use
by 7.5%
·
Sport and unhealthy
lifestyle
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15230503 &
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10387502
·
smoke more, exercise
less:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9158910
& http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11582610
·
Sport improves health
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=2218637
& http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=2255968
10.
Ethnicity
·
Some ethnic groups
exercise little (for instance few Asian women cycle in Birmingham..leading
to poor health) and should be targeted http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9813874
11.
Cities
·
Far more people
walk in Paris than most cities...their health is better
A
new way to compare health systems: avoidable hospital conditions in Manhattan
and paris
- Lifestyle correlates of anthropometric estimates of body adiposity in an Italian middle-aged and elderly population: a covariance analysis.
- The DFT think cycling should be increased (even if they do not provide the incentives)
- Many commuities round the world are trying to increase their cycling and walking rates, and reduce car use
- The EU is committed to act...why is Bham lagging behind?
11.
Blindness/partial sight
·
Age-related macular
degeneration (ARMD)
This affects 33% of those over
age 85
600 people>85y in Acocks
Green, one third, that is, 200 will have visual loss from ARMD,
http://www.goodhope.org.uk/departments/eyedept/armdepidemiology.htm
the number of elderly is will
increase by 50% by 2015,
http://www.sghms.ac.uk/depts/gm/Adminstration/Academic/student/fourth.htm
so by 2015, 300 will have visual
loss from ARMD
(in Acocks Green)
About 50% of this will have
causes similar to those causing cardiovascular changes =300 x 50% =150
8% of Birmingham’s cardiovascular disease is due to
particulates (from pollution), so 8% x 150 = 15 people will have poor sight
due to ARMD & cardiovascular disease,
if 25% people cycled, particulates would be reduced
by 25%, so 3 (~15 x 25%) people fewer would be blind/poorly sighted due to
ARMD,
so with a cycle network in Acocks Green instead of 150 ARMD sufferers with
poor sight, there would be 147
·
Diabetic retinopathy
and blindness.
There
are 1300 people with diabetes, 2% will be blind, =26 total
In
2015, with no increase in cycling/walking………….= 52
If
25% cycle/walk, in 2015 = 46
6 fewer people will be blind from diabetic retinopathy if 25% cycle/walk by 2015.
So in total,
3+6 = 9 fewer people would be blind/partly sighted in Acocks Green with a
cycle network/25% cycling.
12. Investment
It is well known that people prefer to live in areas with good quality education and pleasant surroundings. Improving the quality of education in schools particularly would help to attract and retain many parents and would-be-parents. Until recently 11% of children left the city's schools unable to read...there has been a massive improvement, but there are many weak areas. For instance, there are very few apprenticeships-with-prospects available to less academic children....engineering in the city remains poorly paid, with unpleasant working conditions, and little investment in the shop floor.
Similarly, pleasant surroundings, such as those seen in a few UK cities, and many European cities will help to retain the educated children and students, many of whom leave Birmingham at the first opportunity.
There is minimal investment in green manufacturing in the city....the city would have a much more sustainable economy if manufacturing switched from making very large fast cars...new industries might include solar panel manufacture, for every single home in the city...we need to harness, focus and develop such ideas or even better proposals.
IT investment is haphazard...it is not clear that the city is doing as much as it can to attract investment. Tourism, similarly, a lot has been done...but we are building extremely ugly buildings, losing our trees and green space, despite the fact that we have square miles of brown field sites...and this will put many tourists off.
With these measures more jobs will be created...and higher employment reduces crime and improves health etc.
13.
Conflict resolution and problem handling
There are many new psychological techniques that help improve people's health and prevent criminal behaviour. These are incorporated into good schooling, but where this has failed/was or was not sufficient, they can be used outside schools with great benefit.
14.
Facilities
Goverment statements here point out the problems or poor urban design, but Birmingham is (with a few exceptions) not learning the lessons, and a city with ugly surroundings (eg the Middleway environs) and without facilities will not attract investment. Simialry, poor urban design contributes to crime...this is not being addressed by the city's planners (other then a small area in the city centre).
Lack of facilities... many areas have no local library or swimming pool, and are set to lose those they have. Occasionally new facilities are built, but there is always a gap of many years when the first (such as the Science museum) is closed, and the new one (Think Tank) opened. Even central Birmingham has no reasonably sized swimming pool.
The Central library has 3 large groups or readers...those working in the city centre, ~16y old young people, and unpaid people. None of these will make the journey to the new site...a site 30 minutes walk away for the centre, 20 minutes from the main bus stop. This is an example of the lack of joined up thinking, particularly as concerned to planning, in the city.
As far as cycling is concerned, there is not even a north>south
cycle route through the city centre..this is an impossible journey. The suburbs
are not better, and are simply not safe for young cyclists, with very fast
traffic driving very close to cyclists. The same happens in many cities
...planners are not learning.