Leave car behind and join the beat

People in Devizes and Calne will soon be beating the street as part of a new activity challenge designed to get people out of their cars.

Beat The Street is a walking game where players register movement via ‘beat boxes’ placed around the town.

Journeys are recorded by tapping two or more boxes in a day with an Oyster-style smart card, which will flash and light up to register the activity.

Phillip Whitehead, Wiltshire councillor for Urchfont and the Cannings, said: “It is a great project for children and families to get involved in.

“Reducing the amount of traffic on our roads is about making small differences, so hopefully Beat The Street will get more people in Devizes into the habit of walking and cycling instead of using their cars.”

The initiative, which aims to increase the amount of exercise people do, specifically in the most inactive, will start in both Devizes and Calne from May 6.

Beat the Street will be in Devizes and Calne for six weeks with 42 different ‘beat boxes’ in each town.

Wiltshire councillor for Calne North Glenis Ansell said: “It was initiated by Calne Air Quality working group to get people out of their cars especially with walking to schools.

“We think it’s marvellous, it will be good for everyone to get out and do a few more steps and we hope we can get the support of businesses to put some prizes in place.”

Beat the Street is funded through a health technology company, Intelligence Health, which has sponsored the project with Calne and Devizes putting in a joint application.

More than 60,000 people have taken part in the global initiative in the past three years, 39,000 of them in 2014.

The BTS electronic cards and an information pack will be available free of charge through schools, Wiltshire Council and other locations nearer to the start of the project. For details, go to http://www.intelligenthealth.co.uk