A recent report by the Menzies Institute has highlighted that while there are good opportunities and reasons to walk in 'greater' Snug, there are some rough, unsafe and disconnected sections in the network of pathways.
Improvements in these sections would bring significant benefits to the local community, both for the safety of local school children and to improving social connections and economic activity.
Benefits of better walkability include improvements to physical and mental health, safer access to the school, increased independence for local children, reduced car trips and richer social connections.
Environmental benefits include direct experience of nature and reduced carbon emissions.
There is growing public awareness of the negative impacts of poor walkability on a healthy happy community, and there is now growing interest in plans to create the next generation of long-term community infrastructure.
Armed with these research findings and building on years of persistent community advocacy, local community and school groups are mobilising behind a campaign to take walkability in greater Snug to a new level.
The campaign will kick off with an open community meeting at the Snug School Hall at 9.30am Saturday, February 25.
All from greater Snug are welcome, encompassing Snug, Lower Snug, Electrona and Coningham.
So, how did the Menzies Institute assess walkability?
In simple terms, by identifying features that make it easier or harder for community members to be active and walk around their town.
Local residents documented segments of the walk ways to record the quality of the walking experience.
This included reporting on the walking surfaces, safety issues, destinations and their level of enjoyment or concern.
Community members then came together to make sense of the data collected by the citizen scientists at a workshop.
The Menzies Institute then put it all together for them.
A major finding of the study is that, while there are many great destinations to walk to through a very beautiful environment, there is a lack of connectivity of existing paths and trails.
A good example is the lack of a pedestrian and cycling bridge and trail on the bay side of the highway between Lower Snug and Snug.
Research has shown that these locations are well within the distances that people are known to regularly walk.
Connecting this segment would massively improve walkability in both directions and enable, for example, many more children to safely walk or cycle to and from school each day.
The other major finding concerned pedestrian safety, particularly along the Channel Highway.
Kids who walk to Snug School from Sunsail Street must cross the Channel Highway four times and busy Beach Road twice on the way to and from school each day.
For those kids, a pavement along the western side of the Channel Highway in Snug would fix a broken link and mean no crossing of the highway at all.
President of the Coningham and Lower Snug Community Association (CALSCA) Richard Mount says he is constantly hearing examples of near misses of children on public roads, which is very stressful for the children and their parents and for the car drivers as well.
Narrow, rough verges like those on Old Station Road are clearly a hazard, though many people, including children, frequently walk along this perilous pathway as it is the main way to walk in and out of Coningham.
The significant risks of this route deter people from walking and mean that more people are driving cars even over short distances.
Local services and businesses, including the local supermarket, the Snug Tavern, and the Snug Caravan Park, are very supportive of improved non-car access in and out of Snug.
A recent community survey indicated that residents would use safer shared pathways to access the services and businesses in Snug, such as the doctor's office, school, shops, bus services, café, chemist, post office and churches, as well as the public hall, scouts, Snug Beach, sporting facilities and the new council playground.
The people in Snug would also be able to visit their friends in neighbouring communities more easily as well as accessing Coningham beaches and the recreation nature reserve.
More information and the Menzies Institute Greater Snug Walkability report is available at the Coningham and Lower Snug Community Association website here: https://coninghamlowersnug.wordpress.com/. Individuals can also contact Richard Mount on 0477 461 463 for more information or to register your interest.
All are welcome to the community meeting.