Livingstone puts his best foot forward

The mayor of London has launched a new attempt to encourage walking in the Capital.

Ken Livingstone placed his footprint in concrete at the Jubilee Walkway as he launched London's latest walking plan on Monday.

With studies showing a 20 per cent decline in the number of journeys made by foot in the past 10 years, the "Making London a walkable city" plan hopes to turn the town into one of the world's most pedestrian-friendly places by 2015.

Livingstone wants more Londoners to choose to walk when making journeys under two miles.

A new panel will monitor progress towards the target.

Livingstone said walking was one of the simplest ways of reducing transport congestion and encouraging the local economy

"Making London an easier city to walk around will undoubtedly help to achieve both a better city to live in and a more prosperous economy," he said.

Welcome move

The environmental charity Living Streets hailed the plan as "good for business, good for tourists, and good for residents".

“This is the first regional walking plan emerging from an elected regional assembly.We hope it will set the pace at a national and regional level,” campaigns manager Philip Connolly said.

“The mayor’s vision is based on consultation with many groups and individuals from the private, public and voluntary sectors.

"We are pleased to see that many of our views have been represented in the walking plan, and we look forward to contributing to the panel which will monitor implementation.”