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London appoints first Walking and Cycling Commissioner

18 January 2017

by Nick Michell

London has appointed it’s first-ever full time Walking and Cycling Commissioner. Will Norman will work closely with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to help deliver his pledge to get more Londoners active by making cycling and walking safer and easier in the capital.

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.

“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,” said Khan. “Will brings 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.”

Norman’s role will include pushing forward with the Mayor’s Healthy Streets programme to create a safer city for cyclists and pedestrians, and investing a record budget of £770 million on infrastructure and initiatives to promote cycling until 2021/2022.

“Cycling and walking can play a transformational role in improving our health and happiness, and building better communities for everyone,” said Norman. “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 and I’m determined to put it higher on the agenda.”

At Nike, Norman 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.

“We look forward to working with Mr Norman to help the mayor meet his promises to triple protected space for cycling, fix the most dangerous junctions, enable every borough to have a major walking and cycling scheme, and make safer, ‘Direct Vision’ lorries the norm on London’s roads,” said Ashok Sinha, CEO of the London Cycling Campaign.

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