Audit Wales’ report found the Active Travel Fund has seen a significant rise in expenditure, yet the desired increase in active travel rates remains unachieved.
The term ‘active travel’ refers to walking and cycling, possibly combined with public transport, for everyday journeys such as commuting to work or school, or accessing health, leisure, or other services and facilities.
The Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013 was established to boost these active travel rates, placing responsibilities on Welsh ministers and councils.
In 2024-25, the Welsh Government has allocated £65million to active travel initiatives, with the Active Travel Fund being the largest component.
However, the overall expenditure on active travel by the Welsh Government and wider public services remains unclear.
The Active Travel Fund, initiated in 2018, helps councils develop and deliver improvements to active travel infrastructure and related facilities.
The annual expenditure by councils through the Active Travel Fund or equivalent increased significantly from £20million in 2018-19 to £46million in 2023-24, totalling £218million over the period.
Despite this increased spending and a new comprehensive delivery plan, the Welsh Government is still far from achieving the significant shift in active travel envisaged by the Act.
The limited available information suggests that active travel rates have not improved in recent years, with headline walking rates below pre-pandemic levels.
In 2022-23, 51 per cent of people said they walked at least once a week for active travel purposes and 6 per cent cycled.
The figure for walking compares with 60 per cent in 2019-20 while cycling rates have remained broadly static.
The report identifies several issues and areas for improvement, including target setting, the integration of active travel across wider policies and programmes, national leadership arrangements, capacity issues in local authorities, and the approach to and prioritisation of funding.
It also points out that the creation of physical infrastructure has not been accompanied by a strong enough focus on awareness raising and behaviour change.
The current approaches to monitoring and evaluation are insufficient to enable robust tracking of progress or an overall assessment of value for money.
The Act’s reporting requirements are not being met consistently and a Welsh Government review of the Act is overdue says the audit.
Adrian Crompton, auditor general, said: “The Welsh Government needs to reflect on why, in over a decade, the Active Travel (Wales) Act and the arrangements to support delivery have not yet had the desired impact.
“Various factors influence active travel behaviour across a range of policy areas.
“Without better supporting evidence, the risk is that doing more of the same, including in how funding is prioritised, may simply produce the same results.”
