North Wales MS Highlights £128M “Wasted” Budget Spent on Active Travel as Walking Levels Fall and Cycling Remains Static

Janet Finch-Saunders, Member of the Welsh Parliament for Aberconwy, has expressed disappointment that the Welsh Government’s widely touted active travel policy has not successfully engaged the people of Wales as intended.

Following a report from Audit Wales it has been revealed that active travel rates have not improved in recent years and that better evidence is needed to track progress and assess value for money.

In 2023/24, the Welsh Government spent £72.6m on the scheme, £60.6m in 2022/23 and £70.3m in 2021/22, with a total expenditure by local authorities since 2018 of £218m. The scheme is the most expensive out of the devolved nations with a price this year per capita of £23.37.

Statistics from the National Survey for Wales reveal that in both 2021/22 and 2022/23, 6% of people cycled at least once a week, and 51% of people walked at least once a week for active travel purposes. The figure for walking compares with 60% in 2019-20 while cycling rates have remained broadly static since the scheme’s inception.

Commenting on the news Janet said:

“Back in July, I raised this exact concern: the Welsh Government is squandering significant amounts of money on its Active Travel schemes.

“Since 2018, the figure for people cycling at least once a month has fluctuated between 8% and 10%, showing absolutely no discernible upward trend, and in that time Welsh Government have managed to spend £218m.

“It is an utter shambles and a scandal. Yet another waste of the public purse on a pointless vanity project.

“The idea itself has merit, and I appreciate any plan that encourages people to be active and travel sustainably. However, like with all Welsh Government projects, they are poorly implemented and maintained.

“As the report highlights, the core issue stems from the project’s failure to integrate effectively with broader policies and initiatives. Furthermore, the expansion of infrastructure has not been paired with a sufficiently impactful campaign to increase public awareness or promote the behavioural shifts needed for actual change.

“I will be bringing this up in the Senedd for discussion with the Welsh Government to try and understand what changes will be made to ensure that public money is being spent prudently. The amount of waste from the Government would almost be laughable if it wasn’t so infuriating.”

20mph Petitioner Mark Baker said:

“It is particularly concerning that much of this ‘active travel’ spending came at a time when former Sustrans Director Lee Waters was the Transport Minister.  This pro-cycling organisation, which in my experience is extremely prejudiced against drivers, seems to have benefited from significant contracts relating to the Welsh Active Travel Scheme and I question whether there was adequate scrutiny on the spending and whether the prejudices of those in charge at the time of implementation may have influenced the scale of the Government’s investment into these projects.

“I only wish the Welsh Government would show the same enthusiasm for fixing our broken NHS, our pot-hole covered roads and the Welsh education system as they do for their anti-motoring policies – the country is in a huge mess and I’m concerned that not only is there little appetite for change from those in charge, but also a complete lack of understanding of the priorities of everyday Welsh people or any appreciation of the scale of the mess they have created.”