National Assembly for Wales

To propose that the Senedd:

1. Notes that:

a) ten years ago, the Senedd passed the world leading Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013 with the aim of establishing the infrastructure that would make it easier and safer for many more people to make everyday journeys on foot or by bike rather than by car;

b) this legislation was introduced because of the overwhelming evidence that increasing active travel improves health and air quality, reduces carbon emissions and cuts congestion;

c) one of the major challenges facing the health service in Wales is the high percentage of the population that is overweight or obese, and that this challenge is exacerbated by our low levels of physical activity, particularly amongst children;

d) the Welsh Government’s Healthy Weight: Healthy Wales strategy states that ‘Sustained and continued investment in active travel will help us to rethink the way in which we commute. This will not only impact our physical and mental health, but will improve our air quality and influence climate change’;

e) in recent years considerable progress has been made in shifting resources towards this most sustainable mode of transport which has resulted in a significant development of high-quality walking and cycling infrastructure and encouraged local authorities to develop a pipeline of shovel-ready active travel projects that will further contribute to modal shift; and

f) a sustained investment in active travel infrastructure in Paris has this year resulted in the number of journeys by bike overtaking the number made by car.

2. Calls upon the Welsh Government to:

a) maintain its current levels of investment in dedicated active travel infrastructure;

b) increase its efforts to raise awareness of the benefits of active travel, health and otherwise, and of new, safe infrastructure that is being made available across Wales; and

c) recognise that after decades of designing our communities around the motor cars, changing to a greener, healthier transport system will require a long-term commitment to investment in infrastructure and effective promotion.