Switching to Sustainable Transport

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 2:02 pm on 19 October 2022.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 2:02, 19 October 2022

Well, I couldn't agree more. We are living with the legacy of a culture where cars were put before people, and we had a whole highway network designed around making cars go faster, rather than thinking about how we encourage people to walk or cycle. As Jenny Rathbone knows, some 10 per cent of all journeys are under one mile. Now, these are journeys that could be walked or cycled in many cases but are, by habit, driven in most cases. So, we do have a cultural challenge, and then we have an infrastructure challenge, because people are reluctant when they don't feel safe or it's a novel experience for them to get out of their cars.

Cardiff Council has been doing some excellent work—probably one of the most progressive councils in Wales—on its active travel development. It has, as you know, a legal obligation under the Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013 to produce a map every three years, based on consultation with communities, of where future infrastructure should go. Cardiff Council has submitted its latest map to us, and it shows that a thorough approach has been taken to ensure that all schools are connected to the planned active travel network. Now, that network is going to take time to be put in place. In the meantime, Cardiff Council, partly through its own resources, is working with individual schools, with officer intervention, to try and do softer schemes, beyond the hard infrastructure, to encourage behaviour change. So, I think that there is really good work going on in Cardiff.

There is some work that they have also been doing around Safer Streets, and we've been piloting this with Sustrans in Newport. There is funding available now, as part of the Safe Routes in Communities project, to close streets outside of schools at pick-up and drop-off times. Where that's been tried, it has been hugely successful. That is there for all local authorities in Wales to take part in. Unfortunately, very few have come forward with bids, but it's open for them annually to do that. I am meeting council transport members in the next couple of weeks to constantly push this agenda. It's partly an issue of officer resource and capability, partly an issue of culture and willingness. But as part of our modal shift agenda, this is critical.