City of York Council and the Selby and York Primary Health Care Trust are extending their innovative city-wide walking campaign - in the week when new cancer figures have highlighted the health benefits of a brisk daily walk.

The walking campaign was launched in June and was due to have ended at the end of the summer but the scheme is to continue with a variety of different initiatives and publicity drives planned.

The news comes in a week when new cancer figures showed that breast cancer is now the most common form of cancer and with separate research also published this week showing that taking regular exercise can cut the chances of developing bowel cancer by 50 percent.

The new figures show that almost 40,000 new cases of breast cancer were reported last year. The figure in 1979 was 25,000 and in 1988 was 31,000. Health professionals are blaming modern lifestyles with factors including increasing car dependency and the rise in obesity, which the Imperial Cancer Research Fund says is a particular risk factor in post-menopausal women.

City of York Council and the Selby and York Primary Care Trust are planning to extend the message of an actively lifestyle through the city's walking campaign. The campaign aims to encourage people to walk rather than drive for some of their journeys to benefit their health.

Gillian Milner, physical activity project coordinator for the primary care trust, stressed the unique role of walking in improving health. She said, "Walking is instantly available to anyone who wants to improve their health and to significantly reduce their risk of developing heart problems, cancer or stroke.

"It is particularly attractive to women who don't wish to pump iron at the gym or to wear a fancy leotard to participate in organised fitness classes."

And Daniel Johnson, the council's TravelWise officer, said, "The key to better health seems to be a radical rethink of the way we live our lives and in particular, how we travel.

"Walking is an ideal alternative to the car for everyone for at least some of their journeys, whether it be taking children to school, the commuter trip to work or to visit friends or the shops."

Mr Johnson said the council was taking every opportunity to make walking more pleasant and enjoyable - in addition to the proposed city centre to station walking route improvements, which will benefit seven thousand pedestrians a day, the council is spending £40,000 this year on dropped crossings at junctions.

END Notes for Editors: this week's new walking research has come from the Cancer Research Campaign and the Scottish Cancer Foundation - more information is available on www.crc.org.uk/press/press_office the latest breast cancer figures have been supplied by the Imperial Cancer Research Fund - www.imperialcancer.co.uk/press/news.cfm the walking campaign is part of City of York Council's commitment to cutting congestion and improving the health and the environment of citizens. the publicity campaign includes a series of posters and postcards featuring the walker's favourite mode of transport - a pair of shoes - and messages targeted at key groups such as business folk and families hard measures include the new proposed improvements to the city to railways station route and building on the success of the council's city centre pedestrianisation scheme the campaign is backed by the Pedestrians Association and is part funded by the European Union's Target project (www.eu-target.net) which aims to investigate new forms of mobility and travel awareness.