6. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport: Active Travel Integrated Network Maps

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:57 pm on 27 February 2018.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 5:57, 27 February 2018

Can I thank David Rowlands for his questions and actually touch on a point that I should have dealt with that was raised by Jenny Rathbone, which concerns the funding that's available for schemes that are being developed? That £5 million that I talked of earlier is being allocated for the purpose of bringing schemes to the point of construction. The reason that I want to see a significant increase in the available resource for those projects is because that £5 million-worth of funding is likely to result in a significant number of projects that will require capital resource. If we are to ensure that, if you like, the vision doesn't just remain a dream, but that the action turns it into reality, we're going to have to back it up with significant resource. That's why I'm pressing hard the point that I will be searching for a significant increase in the amount of capital investment that goes into active travel.

The Member raised the figure of £16 per head in Scotland. The overall sum that is spent in Scotland—it has increased significantly recently—is £80 million. Here in Wales, I was pleased to be able to allocate an additional £8 million within the current financial year for active travel, which resulted in a figure within my department itself of £23 million. That equates to more than £7 per head of population in Wales, but it doesn't reflect some of the additional spend that has gone into schemes that have encouraged modal shift. It's far more difficult to be able to identify all of the spending, all of the investment, when you don't have a single active travel budget. Nonetheless, I wish to see within my department a significant increase in the capital available for schemes able to be delivered in future years.

I think that the variation in the quality of submissions from local authorities demonstrates that the challenge for councils across Wales has not been primarily one of financial resource, but of a willingness and a belief in this agenda—a willingness to work hard to deliver excellent integrated network maps and to contribute to this agenda meaningfully, often with a financial resource. There are exemplar councils in Wales in this regard, and I wish to see all councils perform extraordinarily well in the years to come.

For that reason, we are monitoring the progress of those three local authorities that we've approved the network maps for. We're going to be monitoring the implementation of the recommendations that Jenny Rathbone asked about, and we're going to be monitoring the roll-out of projects and programmes across all 22 local authorities. This is an initial phase. Further maps will be submitted in three years' time. We'll be assessing in terms of data and uptake of those routes that are captured within the maps. We'll be assessing the effectiveness of them. We'll be looking at the projects that are delivered as part of the mapping exercise, and working to make sure that we work with partners in Sustrans and across local government and other third sector organisations to increase the availability of active travel. 

I think, again, the Member highlighted the role that education can play in this regard. If we can change the behaviour of children, we will also, in all probability, change the behaviour of their parents, as was the case with recycling. The increase in recycling rates has largely been down to young people driving this agenda, influencing and inspiring their parents and older generations. 

In terms of air quality, which, again, was raised by Jenny Rathbone, I know Members around the Chamber are very concerned with this issue in terms of air quality. This is a matter that the Minister for Environment, my colleague Hannah Blythyn, leads on, but we have a ministerial task group that meets regularly to discuss decarbonisation, and air quality of course is a key concern that we have within that group.