We should not be surprised that the Cabinet Secretary has only accepted in principle our first recommendation, which considered a lack of strategic leadership at both Welsh Government and local authority levels to be responsible for the lack of progress made to date, where leadership from the Welsh Government should be strengthened and its expectation of leadership at local level made clear. 

It is all well and good for the Cabinet Secretary to say that,

'The Welsh Government has already shown leadership in the implementation of the Active Travel Act', but as our Chair, Russell George, states in the report’s foreword,

'It’s time now for the Government to change its own behaviour, show some real leadership and get the Act’s ambitions on its feet and moving.'

In fact, the Cabinet Secretary’s wishy-washy, self-excusing response that he will continue to champion this agenda and that local authorities have a clear role to play, therefore, simply won’t wash. Neither will his acceptance in principle only of our recommendation that the Welsh Government should revise its statutory guidance to include co-production as a minimum standard for the delivery of the Active Travel (Wales) Act, involving stakeholders not only in the identification of an issue, but enabling them to be part of the solution.

Describing co-production techniques as merely a 'tool to develop good schemes' illustrates the Cabinet Secretary's continuing failure to understand that co-production is about doing things differently—designing and delivering services with people and communities in order to improve lives and strengthen those communities. Co-production is not about austerity; it's part of a global movement that is now decades old and has made significant improvements across our planet. This is about moving from needs–based approaches to strength-based development—helping people in communities to identify the strengths they already have, and utilising those strengths with them.

In July 2017, I opened and spoke at an Assembly event with the ESP Group on making transport services and technology work for inclusion and well-being. The ESP Group helps major transport operators and cities deliver customer services today and design mobility services for the future, with clients such as Transport for London, the Rail Delivery Group, ScotRail, Stagecoach, London councils and the Scottish Government. As I said there, I am pleased to be working with the Co-production Network for Wales and the growing number of organisations across Wales embracing co-production principles, recognising that this is not about austerity, but about unlocking people's strengths to build better lives and stronger communities.

I also quoted the Bevan Foundation statement that if people feel that policies are imposed on them, the policies don’t work, and that a new programme should be produced with communities and not directed top-down. They added that we can deliver more by understanding what matters and by designing backwards, using the front end as the process-design system, where community involvement in co-designing and co-delivering local services should therefore be central.

In contrast, Guide Dogs Cymru and RNIB Cymru were clear to committee that, although routes can become a no-go zone, there has been very little engagement with blind and partially sighted people or with organisations that represent their views. As the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 states, public bodies must take all reasonable steps to ensure that people are able to contribute to their community, and that they are informed, included and listened to. The Cabinet Secretary must understand that to achieve this means an end to telling people what they can have, and instead asking them what they can achieve. 

Sustrans Cymru, the charity making it easier for people to walk and cycle, sees the value in investing and linking up all forms of transport so that walking and cycling is an easy and accessible option. They describe the Wales and borders franchise procurement process as representing a,

'missed opportunity to better integrate walking and cycling with public transport', and state that rail stations should be active travel hubs, making it easier for commuters, locals and visitors to get active.

In April 2017, I sponsored an Assembly event here for the infrastructure development company, Furrer+Frey, launching their White Paper on developing sustainable, agile, multimodal transport solutions for Wales. This included the full results of a YouGov Welsh public transport survey, which found that only 29 per cent of people think that public transport is well connected in Wales, with just 5 per cent very satisfied in north Wales. I will conclude with their statement that transport infrastructure connects communities and must be deployed in a sustainable, managed way using local resources, i.e. people, wherever possible.