Senedd Cymru | Welsh Parliament
Y Pwyllgor Cyfrifon Cyhoeddus a Gweinyddiaeth Gyhoeddus | Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Teithio Llesol yng Nghymru | Active Travel in Wales
Ymateb gan: Cymdeithas Llywodraeth Leol Cymru | Evidence from: Welsh Local Government Association
WLGA evidence to the Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee on Active Travel in Wales
4th of April 2025
Introduction
1. The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) represents the 22 Councils in Wales, and the three national park authorities and three fire and rescue authorities are associate members.
2. The WLGA is a politically led cross-party organisation, with the leaders from all Councils determining policy through the Executive Board and the wider WLGA Council. The WLGA also appoints senior members as Spokespersons and Deputy Spokespersons to provide a national lead on policy matters on behalf of local government.
3. The WLGA works closely with and is often advised by professional advisors and professional associations from local government, however, the WLGA is the representative body for local government and provides the collective, political voice of local government in Wales.
Active Travel in Wales
4. Following the publication of the Audit Wales Report on Active Travel, the Senedd Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee invited a representative from the WLGA to attend the committee on Wednesday 22 January alongside colleagues from local government.
5. On the 12th of February we were invited to consider submitting a written response to your inquiry. Below we are setting out some points to your specific questions and some more generic points on active travel in Wales.
The Welsh Government’s new active travel delivery plan, including any perceived gaps in coverage
6. The plan was published before the discussions on modernisation of transport grants started which have since suggested devolving all local transport funding to the Corporate Joint Committees (CJCs). It is not clear as to how local authorities will be able to fulfil their duties under the Active Travel Act, Section 7 (1) (to) ‘secure that there are—
(a)new active travel routes and related facilities, and
(b)improvements of existing active travel routes and related facilities,
in its area.’
if funding for active travel will be competing with regional more strategic transport projects. Therefore, we recommend that the core allocation for councils should be maintained so that Councils can continue to fulfil their duties, making (local) improvements and enhancements to their networks.
7. As the discussion during a recent meeting between Cabinet Member for North Wales and Transport, Ken Skates, and Council Leaders demonstrated, there is no agreement yet on how the funding should be allocated to the CJCs. There are differing views among Councils as to whether some funding should be ‘top sliced’ for ongoing transport projects and whether some core funding should be allocated directly to them to be able to address local transport matters, which most active travel projects would classify as.
8. It also remains unclear what role Transport for Wales (TfW) will have in funding allocation, scrutiny and help in the delivery of projects if all local transport grants including the Active Travel Fund get devolved to the CJCs.
9. The plan should be updated once decisions on the modernisation of grants have been taken and the roles and responsibilities of the various organisations involved in active travel become clearer.
Opportunities for improved mainstreaming of active travel considerations in wider policy and programmes.
10. The Welsh Government should continue to mainstream active travel in wider transport policy itself, making sure that transport solutions are truly accessible and equitable, giving people real choices while contributing to wider wellbeing and decarbonisation goals and aligning with its wider policy direction. If the Welsh Government can lead on this, then the approach will filter down to the regional and local levels. The Welsh Government should lead by example working together cross-departmentally with regeneration, decarbonisation, health, education and planning to maximise benefits and to avoid conflicting priorities.
The developing role of Transport for Wales as part of the delivery arrangements for active travel.
11. TfW have built a considerable team with expertise in active travel that did not exist in Wales before. It should be utilised by CJCs and Councils going forward whatever the agreed funding arrangements will be. Delivering change on the scale that the Active Travel Act aspires to and seeing real change on the ground requires both investment in a well-resourced team (in TfW) that can support the Councils in delivery and sustained and concerted funding in both infrastructure and behaviour change over a longer period of time.
12. Although there were some initial teething problems with TfW administering active travel funding and overly complicated, bureaucratic and onerous processes, the impact of the TfW team administering the funding can be seen in its effectiveness in ensuring that the Active Travel Fund has been allocated in accordance with design standards making sure new routes being built are accessible and encourage inclusivity. Some Councils have been overwhelmed by WelTAG and the reporting duties and smaller teams have often had to resort to external consultants. Going forward bureaucracy should be streamlined as much as possible to make sure that resource-stretched teams in Councils can maximise their efforts in delivery.
13. Councils have benefitted from the Active Travel Academy training for Council staff and TfW has also delivered the long-awaited active travel promotional toolkit.
14. We also welcome TfW developing plans to better integrate active travel with public transport, enabling walking and cycling to be used more easily as part of a longer journey and further enhancing the sustainability of rail travel by reducing its dependence on car travel for journeys to and from stations. Recently, TfW have also delivered a Prioritisation tool for routes and an Active Travel Monitoring Framework.
The role and activities of the Welsh Government’s Active Travel Board
15. The WLGA has five seats on the renewed Active Travel Board, one officer and four regional representatives from the Councils. The WLGA welcomes its strengthened role in terms of scrutiny and is pleased that the Board has produced an annual report, where the Board has highlighted and shared good practice of the Councils.
16. The Board’s subgroups on Active Travel to School and Inclusive Active Travel have made some positive and practical recommendations in their respective areas. The Inclusive Active Travel group has looked at barrier removal and suggests relatively affordable and community-led interventions that can help make active travel more accessible to everyone. The Active Travel to School group is bringing together different strands of work and organisations working in this space and helps make information more easily accessible for Councils. The Active Travel to Schools group has been collaborating with academics mapping and understanding the distances that children need to travel to school across Wales to make more informed decisions about prioritising interventions.
The Welsh Government’s active travel spending and how it is distributed and prioritised between different schemes and types of intervention.
17. Over recent years, the higher level of funding for active travel has been welcomed by Councils (although the fact it has come at the expense of some other transport grants has been less well received). Furthermore, not all Councils have been able to bid for projects due to lack of capacity and internal resource. There are also other issues that make delivery difficult and unless these can be addressed and funding levels maintained, delivery will continue to be patchy.
18. Firstly, the allocation of funding on an annual basis significantly complicates the delivery of projects that almost always require more than one year to complete. This creates a number of problems. Delivering active travel routes in one-year tranches, with no guarantee of funding for the next year, means that routes are delivered in unusable sections. People are unlikely to use a route that does not enable a safe journey from door to door. Uncertainty over the duration of funding also means that Councils cannot invest in recruiting and retaining staff and often have had to rely on consultants.
19. Secondly, almost all of the funding for active travel is capital. The lack of revenue funding makes the development of effective behaviour change programmes more difficult. Lack of revenue funding also means that there is never sufficient money to maintain routes and although the Active Travel Act requires Councils to provide new routes it does not create a duty to maintain them.
Any other issues of concern in relation to delivery of the Welsh Government’s active travel ambitions.
20. The Welsh Government promised to look at active travel in rural areas, but no specific guidance has been produced in this regard. There is an opportunity for the Welsh Government and TfW to work together with Active Travel England who are currently working on this.
21. The more rural Councils often highlight the issue of leisure routes for walking and cycling not qualifying for active travel funding. And although the vital importance of active travel as a lever for modal shift and reducing car journeys should not be underestimated, it is also important to realise the health and leisure benefits that walking, cycling and wheeling bring.
22. It is necessary to build the confidence and skills (especially for children) to walk and cycle to then be able and feel confident enough to actively travel to school or work. Low(er) population numbers in rural areas mean that routes will rarely get prioritised when comparing to routes in more urban areas with higher potential for modal shift. A more holistic approach is needed to integrate the transport, health, wellbeing and leisure elements of walking, cycling and wheeling.
23. There is also an opportunity to think more creatively in rural areas, potentially using off-road routes and thinking about purchasing land to build routes behind hedgerows on rural country lanes to be able to create networks of routes that connect places. The integration with public transport is key in more rural areas where services are usually further away.
24. It is also important to recognise that one size does not fit all topographies and locations, however also admitting that active travel can be the solution for most people for shorter journeys in both urban and rural environments. The recently published Living Streets Pedestrian Pound report sets out that 65% of the population in Wales live in urban areas, compared to 35% rurally. 86% of the population live within 5 miles of a town centre and 44% within 1 mile.
25. The Welsh Government and Ministers need to lead on behaviour change and communication. Councils can support messaging and promote locally.
26. Staffing in local government is a key barrier to the ability to plan, implement and monitor active travel schemes. Councils often face recruitment and retention challenges, including some staff moving to TfW.
27. An area that has not been sufficiently been looked at by Welsh Government is how people travel to work. The WLGA has produced Guidance to support councils in encouraging staff to travel more sustainably - WLGA. Measures include incentivising the use of public transport, travel planning, access to bikes, car sharing etc. The Welsh Government should support and endorse this guidance and lead by example, making sure their own travel policy is up to date and explore ways of supporting the whole public sector to commute more sustainably.
Conclusion
28. The Welsh Government should remain on its ‘Llwybr Newydd’, continuing to work towards active travel becoming the most natural way for people to make shorter everyday journeys. We know it is the right thing for people, communities, equality, the environment, health and the economy (again as highlighted in the recent Pedestrian Pound report referenced earlier). Active travel needs to be an integral part of all transport planning, land use planning and health promotion and prevention of ill health and obesity. Modal integration, safe infrastructure and continuous routes to places are key to ensuring convenience and attractiveness for users. Better streamlining active travel, not promoting it as a goal in itself, will help bring more people on board, avoiding antagonising people and rather helping them understand that active travel infrastructure is being built for all people to get to places (including those who cannot drive or do not own a car) and give everyone real choice over mode of transport.