Wales could be a global leader in active travel with better implementation of policies.
The independent Active Travel Board, in its first ever report, has scrutinised levels of active travel in 2023/24 and is calling on Welsh Government to overhaul its processes and enable Wales to meet its full potential as a global leader.
It commended Welsh Government on its increased levels of funding – now standing at £19 per head – and over a decade of strong political will – including pioneering legislation.
But the Board says that to meet the ambition where 45% of all journeys are done actively or by public transport by 2040 Welsh Government must overhaul data collation and prioritise the way it distributes its funding.
The annual report makes nine recommendations:
- C-Smart Objective Setting
- Radically improving data collation and research
- Overcoming capacity issues
- Reimagining active travel funding
- Prioritising active travel and reducing car use
- Creating a supportive environment where more children can walk, wheel and cycle to school
- Overhauling data collation in schools
- Mainstreaming a cross-government and cross-sector 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 points to ways that Wales can and is doing business differently. It highlights funding by Welsh Government of Spokesafe in Newport, which offers Wales’ first 24/7 secure storage facility, in partnership with The Gap Wales. Over half of its users would not have gone into the city centre without the hub, and over three quarters now cycle into town more frequently as a result.
Sustrans Cymru’s E-Move project, also funded by Welsh Government, has been able to decrease an average beneficiary’s car trips by 65% (as driver) and 39% (as passenger) and has even helped an Aberystwyth entrepreneur to start their own business, called The Chai Bike.
Deputy Chair, Rhiannon Letman-Wade, who also co-chairs the Sub-Group on Active Travel to Schools, said:
“It is, of course, disappointing that Wales is not yet reaping the full benefits of the work done by Welsh Government to date.
“In our report, we draw attention to the excellent work undertaken in Howardian Primary School, where 90% of pupils now travel actively to school. It can be done. And there may well be more schools out there, but we aren’t able to track this, because our data is not where it could be.
“We believe Welsh Government can replicate examples of good practice across all of Wales if it were to shift its funding towards a ‘one stop shop’, where school communities can access interventions tailored to meet the specific needs of their local community.”
