Welsh Government toughens up pioneering Active Travel Bill

The National Assembly for Wales this week strengthened the nation’s Active Travel Bill  as it passed its final legislative stage. 

Assembly members approved a series of amendments tabled by the Labour administration’s culture and sport minister John Griffiths. 

One places a duty on ministers and local authorities to “promote” walking and cycling. “We wanted to be explicit about it,” Griffiths told LTT. “I think it’s valuable to have it explicitly stated on the face of the Bill.

“It gives me great satisfaction to think that we’re leading the way with the Active Travel Bill and that this piece of legislation is attracting envious glances from other parts of the UK,” said Griffiths. 

Maria Eagle, Labour’s shadow transport secretary, has promised to introduce similar legislation in England if Labour wins the General Election in 2015 (LTT 06 Sep). Griffiths told LTT he had recently discussed the legislation with Scottish ministers too.

The Bill requires local authorities to prepare maps identifying current and potential future routes for walking and cycling and to make continuous improvements to active travel facilities and routes. The Government proposes that the  mapping requirement should apply to settlements with a population over 2,000. 

 Other Government amendments to the Bill approved by the Assembly this week introduce requirements: 

• for local authorities to report annually on their progress delivering an improved network, plus levels of usage and costs

• for Welsh ministers to report annually on levels of active travel

• on highway authorities to consider the needs of walkers and cyclists when carrying out road works and when meeting their duties under the Traffic Management Act 2004

Councils will have to complete the preparation of their initial maps one year from the date the Bill’s Statutory Instrument takes effect, which is likely to be early next year. 

The Government isn’t making any extra funding available for councils to prepare the maps. “If a case [for funding] was made by the Welsh Local Government Association then obviously we’d listen to that,” Griffiths told LTT. 

The impetus for the Bill came from Sustrans Cymru. Its national director Jane Lorimer said this week: “The big challenge for the Welsh Government going forward is to make sure the Bill is backed by a strong, long-term funding commitment to active travel.”

Responsibilities for the legislation and for funding active travel are split between two different departments of the Welsh Government. 

Griffiths’ department for culture and sport will be responsible for monitoring how effectively the Bill is implemented, including reviewing the local authority maps and receiving the annual reports from local authorities. 

But decisions on funding active travel will be made by Edwina Hart, the minister for  economy, science and transport. 

Griffiths said the Government was currently providing about £12m a year for active travel via the grants paid to the four regional transport consortia. 

He played down the prospect of more funding for active travel from the Welsh Government. “There’s a real challenge to ensure funding is used to best effect,” he said. “We know we’re in difficult times so it’s about using existing resource better.”

The Bill is likely to receive Royal Assent by the end of November and become law early next year. 

This will be discussed in detail at LTT's Mainstreaming Smarter Travel event this December