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Abstract Introduction This article proposes a low-cost approach that transport authorities can use to evaluate small-scale active travel interventions, including estimating health economic benefits from uptake of walking and/or cycling. Methods The method combines post-intervention intercept surveys with the re-use of routinely collected count data. While inferior to more robust, longitudinal methods, the approach represents good value use of primary and secondary data at a far lower cost, for interventions unlikely otherwise to be evaluated at all. It makes use of government-supported tools that estimate physical activity health benefits from increased active travel. Findings The article describes an example in which a residential street was closed to through motor traffic, which led to a decline of 90% in motor traffic volume and uplift in pedestrian and cycle counts. This example is exploratory in nature due to sample size (124 respondents). The intercept survey of pedestrians and cyclists found uplift in perceived quality of the local environment across various indicators. Results suggested that around a third of the increase in pedestrian and cycle counts post-scheme represents new journeys, mainly via mode shift, with most of the remaining two-thirds being diverted journeys. This information is used alongside the before-and-after count data to estimate new cycling and walking trips induced by the route improvement. Finally, the article estimates the health economic benefit resulting from increased physical activity, of approximately £500,000 over 20 years. Conclusions The article demonstrates a method for estimating active traveluptake and associated health benefits for smaller schemes. If applied over a number of schemes, the results could then be used to create an evidence base that could be used in assessing possible benefits of future schemes.

Intro -- Acknowledgments -- Preface/Introduction -- Universal Hunger -- Worship: Gateway to Communion -- Repentance, Confession, and Forgiveness -- Prayer and Meditation I -- Prayer and Meditation II -- Study and Guidance -- Community -- Fasting -- Solitude and Simplicity -- Why No Urgency? -- Why is My Experience Different? -- Are Spiritual Practices Legalistic? -- What are the Stages of Growth? -- What Should I Do Now?.

A key feature of the rise of neoliberal politics and policy has been the progressive shift of risk from corporations and national states to the local government, individuals and households. In this article, we argue that, in the UK, 'great risk shift' has not only been intensified by recession and austerity but has also been marked by the unevenness of the redistribution of risk and insecurity across scales and places, and between different types of household. In order to capture the differentiated nature of experiences and impacts of recession, risk and insecurity, this article first considers the spatial and temporal dynamics of recession and the great risk shift. It then goes on to localise and embed these dynamics within the city regions and local authorities of Bristol and Liverpool, drawing on a quantitative survey of 1,013 households, across a range of different household types. The survey was segmented geographically and by ten different household types using Ipsos-MORI's (ACORN) classification of residential neighbourhoods. Whilst the evolving crisis and subsequent austerity measure have been a 'moving target' for cities, the local government and households, the household survey was undertaken in the two city regions in the winter of 2011 and explored experiences and impacts since 2008. It will seek to demonstrate the nature, impact and 'lived experience' of the 'risk shift' during this period and consider the ongoing and broader implications for households, and national and local policymakers.

There has been much debate about the impact of recession and austerity on the voluntary and community sector over recent years. Using secondary data from the 2008 National Survey of Third Sector Organisations, Clifford et al. (2013), writing in this journal, have argued that voluntary sector organisations located in more deprived local authorities are likely to suffer most due to the combined effect of cuts in government funding in these areas and their greater ependency on statutory funding. This paper develops this argument by exploring the sector's changing relationship with the state through an empirical analysis of the differential impact of recession and austerity on voluntary and community organisations involved in public service delivery in the two English core cities of Bristol and Liverpool. This paper highlights how the scale and unevenness of public spending cuts, the levels of voluntary sector dependency on statutory funding and the rising demands for the sector's services in a period of recession and austerity are being experienced locally. It portrays a sector whose resilience is being severely tested and one that is being forced rapidly to restructure and reposition itself in an increasingly challenging funding environment.

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The impacts of a range of farm-management practices on house mouse (Mus domesticus) populations were tested in a large replicated field study in a complex irrigated farming system in southern New South Wales, Australia. An advisory panel, made up of farmers, extension officers, industry representatives and scientists developed a series of best-practice farm-management actions to minimise the impact of mice. Twelve experimental sites were split into six treated sites, where farmers were encouraged to conduct the recommended practices, and six untreated sites, where farmers conducted their normal farming practices. Mouse abundance was generally low to moderate for the 4-year project (5–60% adjusted trap success). We found significant reductions in population abundance of mice on treated sites when densities were moderate, but no differences when densities were low. Biomass of weeds and grasses around the perimeter of crops were significantly lower on treated sites because of applications of herbicide sprays and grazing by sheep. We could not detect any significant difference in mouse damage to crops between treated and untreated sites; however, levels of damage were low (<5%). Yields of winter cereals and rice crops were significantly higher on treated sites by up to 40%. An analysis of benefits and costs of conducting farming practices on treated sites compared with untreated sites showed a 2 : 1 benefit to cost ratio for winter cereals, 9 : 1 for rice and 4 : 1 for soybeans.