Will the Minister confirm what actions the Welsh Government is taking to ensure that there are suitable cycle routes in semi-rural areas?
Through improving our infrastructure, we will provide greater opportunities for people to cycle not only within settlements, but also through hub-and-spoke active travel corridors connecting local centres to surrounding villages and outlying developments.
In our Active Travel Act Guidance, we encourage Local Authorities to consider adopting a more flexible approach to mapping routes that extend outside the
designated localities may also be useful where the settlement is relatively close to a larger urban centre in which many of the services that attract local trips are located. In our guidance we provide advice on the development of suitable cycle routes, including specifically in rural and semi-rural areas. Section 2(6) of the Active Travel Act requires Local Authorities to have regard to this guidance when determining whether a route is suitable to be designated as an active travel route.
We also recently published our guidance for regional transport planning — Sustainable Transport in Rural Areas. This guidance will help Local Authorities and Corporate Joint Committees to be ambitious in considering rural transport solutions as part of their regional transport planning.