Active Travel England Manchester Conference Dates and Venue 2026

Key Points

• Active Travel England has chosen Manchester as the venue for its national placemaking conference, Making Active Places 2026.
• The two-day conference will be held on September 22-23, 2026 at Aviva Studios, the home of Factory International.
• Fusion Media, a specialist agency, has been hired to assist in event management and logistics.
• The conference program includes 40 workshops and site tours revolving around topics related to active travel, public health and urban design.
• The conference is sponsored by the Department for Transport, Sport England and Homes England to ensure that the infrastructure investment funds are aligned with the delivery programs.

Manchester ( Manchester Mirror) September 01, 2026 — Active Travel England has designated Manchester as the host city for its annual flagship summit, Making Active Places 2026, positioning the North West region at the centre of national transport policy discussions. The government agency confirmed that the event will take place on 22 and 23 September 2026 at Aviva Studios, the landmark cultural and arts venue operated by Factory International on Water Street. The gathering serves as the executive body’s central platform to coordinate local authority strategies, infrastructure investments, and street design standards across England.

What is the Making Active Places 2026 conference?

Making Active Places 2026 is the primary national convention organised by Active Travel England, an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Transport. The conference brings together urban planners, civil engineers, regional highway authorities, transport operators, and public health professionals. The programme is designed around three core themes: people, place, and making the business case for sustainable connectivity.

As reported by Conference News, the executive body chose Manchester to highlight the city’s progress in creating integrated urban transit and active travel networks. The conference will examine how statutory guidance, funding allocations, and local street design can meet government targets to make walking, wheeling, and cycling natural choices for local journeys.

Why did Active Travel England select Aviva Studios in Manchester?

The selection of Aviva Studios reflects the requirements of a large-scale national forum with direct access to regional transit infrastructure. Located in Manchester city centre, the venue provides multi-modal connectivity via nearby rail hubs, including Salford Central and Manchester Victoria, as well as the city’s zero-emission bus connections.

As noted in reporting by Prestige Events Magazine, hosting duties will be led by Aviva Studios, establishing the cultural facility as a venue for major public-sector summits and commercial exhibitions. The location allows delegates to participate directly in guided walking and cycling tours around surrounding regeneration areas, illustrating practical streetscape adaptations in high-density urban environments.

Who is organising and supporting the 2026 summit?

The conference is delivered by Active Travel England in formal partnership with key national statutory agencies, including the Department for Transport, Homes England, and Sport England. This cross-departmental structure ensures that active mobility principles are integrated directly into long-term housing developments, community sports infrastructure, and national planning frameworks.

To oversee event operations, Active Travel England contracted communications and event management firm Fusion Media. As reported by Endurance Biz and Cycling Industry News, Fusion Media was selected to manage event logistics, delegate relations, and stakeholder communications for the Manchester gathering.

What topics are on the Making Active Places 2026 agenda?

The two-day conference features 40 bespoke sessions designed for local council delegates and infrastructure specialists. The sessions focus on technical design standards, data collection methodologies, barrier-free accessibility, and safety measures across urban highway corridors.

Specific workshop tracks highlighted in the official conference agenda include:

• Designing Child-Friendly Places: Examining strategies to eliminate road danger around schools and residential neighbourhoods.
• Safer Places, Safer Lives: Embedding women’s and girls’ safety principles directly into urban lighting, layout, and pathway design.
• From Data to Delivery: Utilising traffic telemetry and local route usage figures to establish robust business cases for active travel investment.
• Connecting Residents with Nature: Collaborative spatial planning initiatives led alongside environmental and urban landscape trusts.

Background of regional active travel development

Active Travel England was created by the UK Government to raise street design standards, inspect infrastructure quality, and distribute capital grant funding to local councils. Greater Manchester has implemented one of the country’s most comprehensive regional networks under the Bee Network framework, overseen by Mayor Andy Burnham and Active Travel Commissioner Dame Sarah Storey.

Manchester City Council’s own local strategy targets doubling cycling trips, expanding footpaths, and ensuring at least 20 percent of its identified active network is completed by 2028. By bringing the national convention to the city, policymakers aim to review real-world outcomes from Greater Manchester’s walking, wheeling, and bus integration schemes.

Prediction for urban planners and local authorities

The outcomes of Making Active Places 2026 are expected to directly influence how English local authorities design future funding bids for active travel grants. Regional planners attending the summit will gain early insight into updated compliance requirements from Active Travel England, which inspects highways projects to ensure schemes meet national cycle infrastructure standards.

For municipal transport officers and developers, standardising safety and accessibility metrics will reduce design delays on major housing schemes and town centre regeneration projects. Local communities are likely to see accelerated delivery of protected cycle lanes, improved pedestrian crossings, and school street schemes as councils align their capital programmes with national guidelines.