55 years of campaigning for walking

Terence Bendixson was the Guardian's planning correspondent in the 1960s when he wrote a piece that propelled him into walking campaigning. In 1969 he joined Living Streets (then the Pedestrians' Association) when he and its founder hit it off.Foley, a London-based journalist, founded the Pedestrians Association in 1929, when motor vehicles were proliferating; he was concerned about the dangers they posed. In 1939 Evelyn Waugh described Piccadilly Circus as 'still as a photograph, broken and undisturbed'.In its early years the charity shaped road safety law, including the introduction of the first Highway Code and the driving test, 30mph speed limits and pedestrian crossings. Post-war 'The Peds' were involved in the first zebra crossings and the new offence of drink driving As TransportXtra reports.Terence Bendixson was part of the hugely successful Homes before Roads movement, as told by Steve Chambers, of Transport for New Homes https://planningtransport.co.uk/2020-03-08-homes-before-roads.html. Bendixson's book, Instead of Cars, is 50 this year:On Living Streets’ pavement parking campaign; on CEO Catherine Woodhead being appointed in April 2024.Ben Plowden joined in the late 90s; he and Bendixson applied to the Esmee Fairburn Trust for £69,000, which paid for premises, staff and a rebrand. Plowden became CEO of CPRE in 2025.Dr Amit Patel: https://www.dramit.uk/; On removal of the Leicester flyover .For ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers! We’re also on Bluesky and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://bsky.app/profile/podstreetsahead.bsky.social Support Streets Ahead on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.