Our race equity statement

Our commitment

We have a zero-tolerance approach to racism and condemn all racist and discriminatory behaviour within and across our charity.

We commit to challenging and dismantling structural racism within our own policies and practices, whilst also challenging all forms of direct or indirect racism where we see it.

Why it matters

At Sustrans, our vision is to create healthier places and happier lives for everyone by making it easier for people to walk and cycle.

Systemic racism is a pervasive and insidious threat to this vision.

Systemic racism is evident in everything from disparities in healthcare outcomes and access, to the distribution of wealth.

Urban planning has played a key role in creating and reinforcing these inequalities, but urban planning can also be harnessed to address them.

We know that some people from ethnic minority groups are disproportionately more likely to live in the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in the UK.

Given our strategic priority of Liveable Cities and Towns for Everyone, Sustrans will directly influence the living environment and population health in these areas.

Our research also shows that only 7.5% of the users of the National Cycling Network are people of colour.

Our Paths for Everyone priority commits us to increase the number of users from ethnic minority groups.

What we will do

We have the power to enact meaningful change and we plan to use it.

We will build high performing teams around our values, in particular ‘including everyone’ and our objective of ‘being a charity for everyone’ which speak to our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.

With our employees and volunteers, our partners, and the communities with which we work, we will take action to ensure that race equity is embedded in all we do.

We will develop a race equity action plan, and we will review our progress annually against our commitments and action plan.