Action call on drive for improved travel plans
COUNCILS have missed the point of Wales’ pioneering active travel legislation, say campaigners who want the Welsh Government to demand better plans for walking and cycling.
Some AMs are so concerned that they have formed a cross-party group in the Assembly to press for improvements.
Wales won international plaudits when it passed the Active Travel Act in 2013 – the first time any country in the world had placed a duty on local authorities to plan and progressively implement networks of walking and cycling routes.
By last month, Wales’ 22 unitary councils had to submit maps of aspirational networks to the Welsh Government for approval, but critics say the proposed routes are so poor they will do little to encourage more people – women in particular – to make routine local journeys by bicycle instead of car.
Even Cardiff Council, which has probably produced the most detailed map of all, has acknowledged an update is needed within 12 months.
Two campaign groups in north Wales have asked Transport Secretary Ken Skates to reject the maps submitted by Gwynedd and Anglesey councils for failing to comply with the Act, but others fear rejecting maps now would cause more delay.
Llanelli AM Lee Waters said: “We don’t want to put the whole process on stop again. I think we should say that we want them to come back within a year with an updated plan. Cardiff have risen to the challenge. I would like to see other local authorities do the same.”
The Act requires councils to “consider the safety of cyclists on most streets”, not just on designated routes, but it appears that few, if any, have complied.
A Cardiff Council spokesman said the authority intended to update its map in the next 12 months to show how it will make principal routes, including Cycle Superhighways, “accessible from adjoining communities via the ‘basic network’ of streets”.
“There’s a huge gender gap in cycling, and if we’re trying to change the behaviours of children we need to get mothers on board,” said Mr Waters. “Making women feel confident and safe on a bike is crucial.”
He said councils hadn’t received enough training from the government and were scared of raising false hopes by proposing routes they wouldn’t be funded to deliver.
Mr Waters, who helped initiate the legislation while he was director of transport charity Sustrans Cymru, said the Act required councils to consult the public to identify local travel routes. “If there’s enough demand, you put that [route] on a map. The whole point of the initial process is to put an aspirational network together which you could deliver over 30 years. You don’t need a fully designed route at this stage.
“It’s going to take a generation or more to get this. We need to start in the right way.
“This is more about culture than anything else. There are financial and capacity constraints [for councils] but that’s not the reason we’re having these frustrations. The reason is that not enough people get it. That, I’m afraid, includes parts of the Welsh Government.”
The Act obliged the Welsh Government to provide active travel facilities alongside new roads. “The first road scheme to come through the process, the Caernarfon and Bontnewydd bypass, had not a jot of new [active travel] infrastructure in it. The government’s own transport department has failed this test as well.”
The Welsh Local Government Association said the Welsh Government gave councils £200,000 towards compiling the maps. This is just £9,090 per council on average.
Surveying most streets would be “a major exercise”, said Tim Peppin, the WLGA’s sustainable development director. He said councils would review their maps every three years. “Therefore, this is not a one-off exercise and local authorities will be looking to make improvements over time and in line with resource availability. Feedback from this round of mapping will, of course, be considered for future iterations.
“With the squeeze on council finances generally and highways budgets in particular, though, councils have to be careful to not to raise expectations that they cannot then realise.”