Wales must step up to the challenge of active travel

John Griffiths - MS for Newport East

We’ve recently seen a number of reports criticising the Welsh Government’s record in getting more people to walk and cycle.

Reports such as the one produced by the Wales Audit Office are vital to the effective scrutiny of how the government is working. They help to ensure we
get value for money and the right outcomes. It’s important we learn from them.

But it’s also important that we remember why the government has been so keen on increasing healthier, greener travel. The reason is simple: active travel offers huge benefits to Wales.

In 2013, I was the Minister who took the world leading Active Travel Act through the Assembly and onto the statute books. The law passed unanimously, because every political party in Wales supported its aim of enabling more people to swap shorter car journeys for walking and cycling. The reasons that applied then still apply today, but they are now even more urgent.

The greatest challenge facing all of us is climate change. It threatens the future of our planet. I am proud that the Senedd was the first national parliament to declare a climate emergency.

We have made some progress in cutting our carbon emissions but emissions from our transport sector remain stubbornly high, with fully 62% of Welsh transport
emissions coming from private car use.

Given that many of those car journeys are only two or three miles, there is great potential to significantly cut our emissions if we enable more people to walk and cycle. And this means providing safe and effective active travel
infrastructure.

Health is also a huge challenge in Wales. We are regularly reminded of the problems facing our NHS and of the need to reduce the burden on it by adopting healthier lifestyles.

Travelling more actively is an extremely effective way of improving people’s health. Wales has the lowest physical activity levels in Britain, contributing to obesity and a wide range of illnesses that are estimated to cost the Welsh NHS £35 million each year to treat.

We are also seeing a growing problem with mental health, another issue that increasing physical activity can help tackle. Having a healthier lifestyle will also help our economy: statistics show that regular cyclists take less time off work due to illness.

Poor air quality is another serious threat to our health. Public Health Wales say that each year around 1,600 avoidable deaths in Wales are due to particulate matter, and 1,100 due to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exposure.

The primary source of both NO2 and particulate matter pollutants is vehicle emissions, primarily from exhaust gases but also from particles shed by tyres and brakes.

Wales has some of the worst air quality in the UK. Every time somebody walks or cycles instead of driving, we breathe a little easier.

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Cheaper

For many people, driving isn’t an option. 19% of households in Wales do not have access to a car, many of them because they cannot afford it.  Walking and cycling are the cheapest ways to get about.

We have a duty to ensure that this cheaper alternative is made safe and
convenient in the same way we have made the motor car safe and convenient: by providing the infrastructure people need.

Similarly, for our young people not yet old enough to drive; active travel offers them an important opportunity to develop their independence if they can
do so safely.

Wales needs to reverse the decline in the numbers of our children walking or cycling to school. Far too many of our children are not getting the 60 minutes of exercise each day needed to keep them healthy. Children who travel actively tend to be more attentive in classes and achieve better results. Reducing the number of cars used on the school run would significantly reduce rush hour congestion on our roads and cut down on the all too frequent parking disputes outside school gates.

Of course, not everybody can travel more actively, but there are enough of us who can for us to be able to make a significant dent in harmful emissions.  And it doesn’t need to be every journey to make a difference. We all complain about the weather, but Welsh weather is not very different to the weather in Holland, where 49% of children cycle to school. Welsh hills are also becoming less challenging with e-bikes offering assistance with pedalling whilst still providing low carbon healthy exercise.

Ambition

There are good news stories showing that we can get active travel right.  Newport Council’s Momentwm programme is an ambitious attempt to demonstrate the benefits of active travel to people across the city; Pedal Power is a leading charity providing specialised cycles and training for disabled people; many schools in Wales are working hard to change the way their pupils travel, with Howardian Primary in Cardiff now seeing 90% of children walking or cycling to school.

We are on a long-term journey. It is only in the last few years that we have been investing at a level that matches our active travel ambitions. Even now, the sums involved are dwarfed by the amount spent on other transport modes.

For all these reasons, the Welsh Government must redouble its efforts to increase active travel. It must maintain its level of investment and continue to develop the mechanisms to target this funding so that it has the greatest impact.

The Welsh Government has recently put in place an active travel delivery plan that, in partnership with local authorities and Transport for Wales, has the capacity to transform the delivery of walking and cycling infrastructure.

It must also do much more to promote active travel. Ten years ago, when we passed the Active Travel Act, Wales put itself at the head of the myriad nations that had realised the advantages of active travel and wanted their citizens to benefit from it. We can and must regain that leading place.