Dame Sarah Storey replaces Chris Boardman as Greater Manchester active travel commissioner

Britain's most successful Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey has been appointed Greater Manchester's new active travel commissioner.

Last week, the 17-time Paralympic gold medallist announced she would be stepping down as Sheffield's active travel commissioner in May, and today it was revealed she will be taking the Manchester role over from Chris Boardman.

Boardman left the role in January to head the newly-launched government body Active Travel England.

> Chris Boardman heads newly-launched government body Active Travel England

Speaking at Mayor Andy Burnham's 'New Era' event, Storey said she is happy to be "coming home" to Greater Manchester having held a similar role down the A57 in Sheffield.

In May I step down as Active Travel Commissioner in South Yorkshire.

Working for @SouthYorksMayor to create a strategy to deliver on his transport manifesto has made for an incredible 3 years & the foundations are laid now for even more great work.
https://t.co/qA955RWq20 1/ pic.twitter.com/8SKlf2gqwv

— Dame Sarah Storey (@DameSarahStorey) March 7, 2022

 When appointed to the Sheffield role in 2019, Storey became the city's first active travel commissioner, and has championed cycling initiatives and road safety in the three years since.

In September, she joined South Yorkshire Police on a close pass operation which resulted in almost one in five drivers being pulled over.

> Dame Sarah Storey joins South Yorkshire Police on close pass operation – and almost one in five drivers get pulled over

Prior to leaving for the Active Travel England job, Boardman developed Manchester's Bee Network of active travel routes in his role as the city-region’s active travel commissioner and more recently its transport commissioner.

Dame Sarah Storey says she's thrilled to be 'coming home' to the city-region. She promises will be making the case to government that if you want to level up the North, you have to invest in people's health #LDReporter pic.twitter.com/ltOKL31BT6

— Joseph Timan (@josephtiman) March 14, 2022