United Kingdom /England: Health economic assessment tool (HEAT) used to evaluate United Kingdom’s Cycling Demonstration Towns programme
In 2005, Cycling England launched a Cycling Demonstration Towns programme to invest in measures aimed at stimulating increased levels of cycling through combinations of physical infrastructure and promotion. The first phase of the programme ended in March 2009. The towns selected as Cycling Demonstration Towns were Aylesbury, Brighton and Hove, Darlington, Derby, Exeter, and Lancaster with Morecambe.
Sustrans, the national sustainable transport charity, oversaw a comprehensive evaluation of the programme. The evaluation used data from surveys conducted in the towns, which showed that there were around 25 000 new cyclists who cycled 20 minutes per day.
These figures were used to conduct a detailed HEAT analysis. It showed a maximum annual benefit of £8.9 million once the maximum health benefit had been reached after an estimated 5 years. Taking into account the build-up of health benefits in the HEAT tool, the present value of the mean annual benefit of this additional level of cycling is approximately £4.52 million (or €5 million) per year.
The United Kingdom’s Department for Transport coordinated an overall benefit–cost analysis that incorporated the HEAT analysis. It showed total benefits of £47–64 million (or €53–72 million) compared to total costs of £18 million (or €20 million).
Department for Transport’s estimates of benefits and costs of the Cycling Demonstration Towns programme
| Impact | Estimate of benefits and costs over 10-year period (2007 prices and values) |
|---|---|
| Reduced mortality | Benefit of £45 million |
| Decongestion | Benefit of £7 million |
| Reduced absenteeism | Benefit of £1–3 million |
| Amenity | Benefit of £9 million |
| Accidents | Disbenefit of £0–15 million |
| Total benefits | £47–64 million |
| Costs | £18 million |
| Benefit–cost ratio | 2.6–3.5 : 1 |
It is notable that the reduced mortality benefits, calculated with HEAT, amount to between 70% and 96% of the total benefits. These figures produced benefit–cost ratios of between 2.6 and 3.5 to 1.
The benefit–cost analysis helped to justify further investment in cycling in the United Kingdom. In 2008, the Cycling City and Towns programme was launched with funding for one substantially larger city (Greater Bristol), one significantly smaller town (Leighton Linslade), and a further 10 towns of medium size with populations ranging from 75 000 to 240 000. This programme was also fully evaluated.
