Walking the coast path ‘saves £75m health costs’
THE health and wellbeing benefits of walking on the South West Coast Path amount to around £75 million, a new report claims.
The report, commissioned by the South West Coast Path Association and undertaken by the University of Exeter, looked at different approaches to measuring the benefits of walking and spending time out and about in green and blue spaces.
Two methodologies were used to calculate the economic benefits, firstly to measure the number of premature deaths avoided by walking the Coast Path, and then a separate calculation to estimate the healthcare savings linked to a reduction in ill health and disease.
Author Dr Carolyn Petersen, based at the Centre for Rural Policy Research (CRPR) at the University of Exeter, said: “Exercising outdoors, and the health and wellbeing benefits associated with being in natural environments have taken on a new importance, especially during the coronavirus pandemic when other activities have been severely limited. This report is timely and shows the important benefits of walking on the South West Coast Path for both physical, and mental health and wellbeing.”
The World Health Organisation’s Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) was used to calculate the physical health benefits, based on the number of premature deaths avoided.
With over nine million visits along the 630-mile long Coast Path a year, an estimated £69.1 million is saved in avoidable deaths, it is claimed.
From this total, £5.5 million can be directly attributed to people walking on the National Trail who would not be walking elsewhere. The research also shows locals living within ten miles of the South West Coast Path gain the greatest health and wellbeing benefits, valued at £2.8 million a year. A further £7.4 million in healthcare cost savings to the NHS was linked to a reduction in ill health and disease.