Active Travel

Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport – in the Senedd at 1:58 pm on 6 June 2018.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 1:58, 6 June 2018

Yes. Can I thank Jenny Rathbone for her question and her continued interest and passion regarding this subject? Broadly, the outcome that we wish to see is cultural and behavioural change insofar as transport is concerned, and in order to accomplish that, we need the right infrastructure and the right support in the form of training, in order to remove the safety anxiety that a lot of people still have, and which particularly parents still have.

The extra £60 million of capital funding will clearly assist in developing safer routes and particularly safer routes to schools for cycling and walking. The apparent reduction in the percentage of children in primary schools who usually walk to school is a deep cause of concern, and so I have extended the active journeys programme, which has seen officials working within schools to encourage the use of bikes and also to encourage walking to schools, whilst offering the right training as well. But, we're not just going to extend it for another year; we're also going to extend the programme to include parents. I think it's absolutely right that we don't just encourage young people to participate in active travel, but that we also ensure that their parents participate in active travel and are confident in allowing their children to take up active travel.

The £60 million funding, I should say, is in addition to the annual funding allocated through the Safe Routes in Communities grant, which is of particular interest to the Member insofar as safe routes to schools are concerned. Also, it's in addition to the funding that's allocated to active travel schemes and the pre-work through the local transport fund and, of course, the substantial amounts that we spend ourselves, on our own projects on trunk roads. So, overall, we expect to see something in the region of £92 million spent on active travel infrastructure in this and the following two years. 

But, it's also important that we go on supporting training and courses that encourage people to take up active travel. This is an issue that I'll be raising at the next active travel board, which I believe is taking place this week. It's something that members of the board have been particularly keen to discuss, especially the split between revenue and capital, which determines the extent to which we're able to provide training courses for young people and for adults.