Sadiq Khan has appointed the Capital’s first full-time walking and cycling commissioner in an effort to get Londoners ‘of all ages and backgrounds’ to take up active travel.
Announced today (20 Dec), Will Norman (pictured) will ‘work closely’ with the mayor, the deputy mayor for transport Val Shawcross and TfL to make healthy, active, non-polluting travel easier in London.
As part of the capital’s biggest ever focus on walking and cycling, Mr Norman will also be responsible for pushing forward the Mayor’s ‘Healthy Streets programme’ to create a safer, more pleasant environment for cyclists and pedestrians.
He will help oversee the investment of a record budget of £770m on infrastructure and initiatives to promote cycling until 2021/2022.
Will Norman is currently global partnerships director at Nike, where he specialises in increasing levels of physical activity and participation in sports around the world, working with a range of international organisations.
In this role, he has spearheaded a programme to make physical activity a global policy priority. This has included working with the UN, the European Parliament, G8, World Health Organisation and International Olympic Committee.
Among his work has been a partnership with UNESCO and the German Development Agency GIZ to successfully reform physical education in South Africa, bringing activity and sports to thousands of primary school children for the first time since the 1990s.
Will Norman said: “Cycling and walking can play a transformational role in improving our health and happiness, and building better communities for everyone.
“I am hugely excited to have the opportunity to champion cycling and walking in my home town.
“London has so much potential to be a more active city and I’m looking forward to applying my knowledge and experience to open up cycling to everyone in our city, and give walking the focus it truly deserves. Too often the importance of walking has been underplayed – I’m determined to put it higher on the agenda.”
Sadiq Khan said: “I’m determined to make walking and cycling safer and easier for all Londoners, which is why I’m providing more investment than ever before, and appointing a Commissioner to focus full-time on this vital area of work.
“Will Norman brings to this new role an impressive track record in delivering major international projects to get more people active.
“As the first ever full-time commissioner, he will be able to make a substantial difference getting Londoners of all ages and backgrounds walking and cycling more – improving our city for everyone.”
20 December 2016