New guidance to help local authorities to plan, design and deliver high quality walking and cycling routes across Wales has been launched today.
The Active Travel Act guidance brings together previous advice and feedback from a public consultation and clearly sets out what is expected from councils when they are designing new infrastructure with Welsh Government funding.
This year alone the Welsh Government is investing £75 million in active travel, more than any other country in the UK per head of population, to provide people with access to high quality active travel routes across Wales, so that they feel safe to get out of their car to cycle or walk.
In a recent Beaufort survey carried out on behalf of the Welsh Government it was found that almost half (49%) of people surveyed said they were concerned that roads were not safe for cyclists, with 59% of parents commenting that they did not feel their children were safe cycling on local roads.
Deputy Minister for Climate Change, with a responsibility for Transport, Lee Waters said:
“We know that getting people out of cars for short journeys to cycle or walk is an ambitious agenda, but if we’re to meet our net zero carbon emission target by 2050 we need to take action now.
“Having the right infrastructure in place is key to encouraging more people to feel safe to walk and cycle and that’s why we’ve committed to investing significant funding in active travel this year.
“The guidance I have published today sets out our expectations of councils to take bold and ambitious steps when developing new infrastructure, so that more people have the confidence to make a change to the way they travel, benefitting both their own health and wellbeing and helping to reduce the impact on our environment.”