The first report into active travel in Wales has been published, with this outlining how the nation can become a global leader in the area.
Published by the independent Active Travel Board, the report looks into the levels of active travel in 2023/24, and has called on the Welsh Government to ‘overhaul’ its processes to ensure that improved implementation can have the right benefits. Nine recommendations were made through the report, with these relating to:
- Smart objective setting
- Improving data collation and research
- Overcoming issues with capacity
- Reimagining active travel funding
- Prioritise active travel whilst reducing car use
- Creating a supportive environment for children to travel to school
- Overhauling data collection in schools
- Mainstreaming a cross-government and cross-sector approach
- A secure-by-design approach
Chair of the Active Travel Board, Dr Dafydd Trystan, said:
“The long-term health benefits of increasing rates of active travel are clear to all. But we need to deliver better active travel outcomes in Wales to realise those long-term health benefits.
“As I travel internationally both within these islands and beyond, the work of Welsh Government on active travel is recognised and celebrated as an example of good practice. Yet, our report presents a mixed picture.
“We report on significant progress in terms of investment in active travel infrastructure but the behaviour change we seek is for the most part absent in the available data. As more (desperately needed) data becomes available we should be able to identify at a more granular level those interventions that have the greatest success in delivering modal change.
“We have set the ambition of becoming an active travel nation, but as yet progress on that journey has been painfully slow. I very much hope we will be able to report on definitive progress in the years ahead, rooted in innovative and people-centred research that utilises investment in such a way as to yield demonstrably higher levels of active travel.”
The report did commend the Welsh Government for increasing the levels of funding for active travel (now £19 per head), however in order for the government’s aim of 45% of all journeys being done by public transport or active travel by 2040, the board has claimed that the government must overhaul both its data collection and how it distributes its funding.
Another report into active travel is also expected in the coming weeks from Audit Wales.
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