Part of 3. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 2:24 pm on 21 June 2017.
Thank you very much for those points. Jenny does paint a very stark picture of the dangers posed by air pollution and, by contrast, the benefits offered by active travel, in terms of health, environment and the financial benefits of walking and cycling as well. We’re making good progress now in the implementation of our Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013. I’m really pleased that our local authorities are on course by November to provide us with their integrated network maps, and those will, for the very first time, give us integrated plans for 142 of the largest places in Wales. I think that this will be exciting news, particularly for those in Cardiff and in your constituency as well.
Public Health Wales’s ‘Making a Difference’ report does identify that cycling and walking in urban areas could actually save the NHS nearly £1 billion in Wales over the next 20 years. So, as well as having that personal benefit in terms of health, there’s actually a benefit for the wider NHS as well.
I’m really pleased with the work that we are doing with an organisation called Living Streets. The Welsh Government has funded them with pilot funding for three projects to look at the barriers to children and families walking to school. They’ve just used what they’ve learned through that to provide a resource for schools in order to enable them to explore, with the children themselves, but also with the families, what’s preventing children walking to that particular school. I’d be more than happy, when that resource is ready, to send copies to all Assembly Members and we can all promote it in our own communities as well.
Likewise, there’s great exciting work going on with an organisation called Sustrans, who I’m sure that you’re really familiar with, through their active journeys programme as well. So, all of this links in very much to the promotion and the prominence that we are giving to active travel, and I’m really pleased to start to see the benefits of this Act.