Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:41 pm on 15 February 2022.
Trefnydd, on 28 September last year, I asked for a debate in the Chamber on the issue of safer travel for horse riders in Wales, and you may recall that your response was that such a debate would be premature, given the up-and-coming changes to The Highway Code. Now that the changes to The Highway Code have been published, I'd like to ask again for a debate in the Chamber on safer travel for horse riders in Wales. I'm asking for this debate because I believe that there's much more that can be done to provide safer routes for the horse riders and carriage drivers, such as better use of signage and the national roll-out of the Dead Slow safety campaign. I also believe that more needs to be done to highlight the new changes to The Highway Code for the benefit of all road users. Sadly, only 22 per cent of publicly accessible routes in Wales are open to horse riders, and many of these routes have been resurfaced to cater for cyclists under the active travel legislation, making them totally inappropriate for horses. Many more routes are also becoming inaccessible for horse riders because of the fencing and barriers that local authorities are erecting to stop motorised vehicles accessing them. With this in mind, I think it's imperative that the riding community have a greater say on the design and implementation of the active travel plan, which, at present, is not meeting their needs, and which can hopefully be addressed and highlighted in this debate. Thank you.