AQW 26640/11-15

Mr Daithí McKay
Sinn Féin
North Antrim

Tabled Date: 02/10/2013
Answered On Date: 14/10/2013
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Regional Development whether he plans to introduce legislation, taking into account jurisdictional differences, that would share the aims and objectives of the Active Travel Bill in Wales.

Answer:

The Welsh Active Travel Bill would place obligations on local highway authorities to enhance the provision on roads for walking and cycling and to provide for maps of active travel routes. As responsibility for road traffic and pedestrian issues here rests with my department, I am not persuaded of a need to introduce similar legislation.

The aims and objectives of the Welsh Active Travel Bill are similar to those of the Active Travel Strategy, which I launched earlier this year. The Strategy aims to put walking and cycling at the heart of our local transport arrangements and create an environment where it is safer and more practical to walk and cycle.

I have also established a new cycling unit to ensure cycling issues and initiatives are progressed in a more coherent and coordinated manner across my Department, in partnership with local government, voluntary bodies, public transport operators and the health and education sectors.