Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I welcome this opportunity today to update Members on a major milestone in the implementation of our Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013. Following the submission and approval of the maps showing the existing active travel routes in 2016, local authorities in Wales have submitted the maps showing their plans for integrated active travel networks last November and these have now been fully assessed.    

The active travel Act requires local authorities to submit an integrated network map within three years of the Act coming into force. The then Minister for Social Services and Public Health extended the deadline for submission by six weeks to 3 November 2017 due to the local government elections and the potential difficulty to consult on the draft maps during the pre-election period.

Today, local authorities have received a decision on the submission of their integrated network maps. My officials provided regular support to authorities, including through workshops and advice notes. Most local authorities were fully engaged in the process and attended a variety of workshops that we held across Wales to assist them in the development of their integrated maps. We also commissioned a project that piloted elements of the integrated network map preparation process. The project, commissioned with Sustrans, worked with a number of local authorities through some of the key integrated network map stages and developed good practice and disseminated lessons that were learned. 

I'm pleased that 21 of the 22 local authorities submitted their maps on time. Monmouthshire County Council informed my officials on 5 September that they would not be able to meet the deadline. In October, a direction was issued to Monmouthshire County Council and they are now due to submit their integrated network maps tomorrow. 

All the integrated network maps submitted have been assessed against the requirements set out in the Act and the statutory guidance. As this first iteration of implementation of the Act is a learning process for all of us, I appointed Professor John Parkin at the University of the West of England as an independent validator. He was asked to look at the appraisal outcomes to ensure that they are consistent and reasonable and to help reach a sound decision. I was impressed with the commitment local authorities have shown across Wales and with the standard of the majority of submissions.

Maybe inevitably in this first cycle, a range of approaches has been taken by authorities in the development of these maps, and there is a great degree of variation in the levels of ambition expressed in these maps. On the basis of the appraisal carried out by my officials and Professor Parkin's assessment, I have come to the following decisions: I am pleased to be able to approve the submissions from 14 local authorities outright, because they have shown that their proposals are based on meaningful engagement and form a credible first-stage integrated network map. There is another group of submissions that fall a little short of our expectations, either in the way in which communities were engaged and consulted in the process, or in the coherence of their planned networks. For these, I've decided to approve the maps on this occasion, together with clear recommendations for addressing these weaknesses.

I am disappointed that submissions from four local authorities are unsuitable for approval in their current form because these local authorities either failed to consult effectively on their proposals or because they do not propose meaningful active travel networks, and, in some cases, their submission was falling short in both. To those local authorities, I will be issuing a direction to resubmit their proposals by 27 August this year. We will support them continually throughout this period. The independent validator provided specific recommendations of areas that should be addressed, and my officials will work with the local authorities affected to ensure swift progress. We are also making recommendations to other authorities highlighting areas for improvement. These first integrated network maps are the starting point; I expect local authorities to continue to work and refine these network maps in dialogue with their communities. This way, when they have to submit again in three years' time, this will be a much simpler process. 

Now that we have the first integrated network maps for the majority of places in Wales in place, we have a sound foundation to make these walking and cycling networks a reality and to get more people walking and cycling in Wales. I have now received the bids for the next round of local transport grants, many of which will be active travel schemes, and I'll be announcing which schemes will be funded next month. I'll continue to look to supplement this funding in-year whenever the opportunity to access additional capital arises, as I have done this year. I allocated additional capital funding of over £8 million for schemes benefiting active travel for 2017-18 to boost existing schemes and fund additional projects. I also commissioned a broader review of how we fund active travel and to look ahead to future requirements. It is my intention to boost the amount that we fund active travel and that we make available centrally for infrastructure significantly, and I'll share more detail on this with you shortly.

The integrated maps represent a great opportunity for joined-up planning. I urge local authorities and other bodies to ensure that other plans and programmes take account of them and, importantly, to use them proactively to secure funding from a range of other sources. When we succeed in creating these networks, and when they are well used, we all stand to benefit from better health and reduced healthcare costs, from reduced congestion, reduced air pollution and emissions, and, overall, from better places. Achieving this is a shared opportunity and responsibility for us all in Wales.