Official Report: Minutes of Evidence

The Chairperson (Mr Humphrey): The presentation will be delivered by Dr Andrew Grieve, head of the cycling unit, and is at page 456. Members, you may well have met Dr Grieve before; he was in attendance the day we visited the Connswater greenway. In fact, that day, he gave a commitment to deliver a similar greenway for north Belfast. Do you recall that, Dr Grieve? [Laughter.]

Dr Andrew Grieve (Department for Infrastructure): No. I wonder why that was. [Laughter.]

The Chairperson (Mr Humphrey): I just have not had it in writing from you yet.

Dr Grieve: Are you writing it into the record, Chairman?

The Chairperson (Mr Humphrey): We are writing as we speak. Of course, there is no commitment about which year you will start the work.

Anyway, you are very welcome to the Committee this morning. I will hand over to you. I should point out that the proceedings in which you are about to take part and the presentation you are about to make will be reported by Hansard.

Dr Grieve: Thank you, Chairman. Thanks for the opportunity to talk to the Committee about a number of aspects of the work being taken forward by the cycling unit in the Department for Infrastructure. I hope members have a copy of my presentation. I discovered a mistake on the final slide, for which I apologise, but I will point it out to you later.

At the last presentation I gave to the Committee, I highlighted the vision that was set out in the 2015 bicycle strategy. It is set out on the second slide. It is a good place to start my presentation today because it underlines what the focus of our work is. I will pick out three words from that vision: "freedom", "confidence" and "everyday". There are many types of cycling — each is laudable in its own way because every one involves people becoming more active — but we are particularly interested in encouraging and helping people to use the bicycle for everyday journeys. As well as helping people to be more active, it is that type of cycling that will have an impact on modal shift, congestion levels and air quality. It is everyday cycling that takes the least time out of your day because you can subtract the time taken to travel in a different mode from the time you spend cycling.

There is a slide on the three attitudes to cycling, and the 'Belfast Bike Life' report of 2015 was the first time we collated fairly comprehensive data on attitudes to cycling in the city of Belfast. It demonstrated that Northern Ireland is not notably different from other places. Whether the city is in North America or Europe or is any other city on these islands not only are there three basic attitudes to cycling — yes, no and maybe — but the proportions in each category are broadly the same. Around one tenth of people cycle, around one third will never cycle, and the rest — the majority of people — are interested in cycling but have concerns about getting on a bike. There is a very large section of the population that wants us to spend more on bicycle infrastructure and more generally on active travel infrastructure.

To deliver that vision, the bicycle strategy was formulated around three pillars, which are set out on the next slide. The first is building a comprehensive network for the bicycle — in other words, providing facilities that are safe and comfortable. The second is supporting people who choose to travel by bicycle and ensuring they have the confidence to get on their bicycle. The third is promoting the bicycle as a mode of transport for everyday journeys and getting it more into the public eye so that people understand that it makes sense for them to use the bicycle.

The next slide shows that the three pillars I just mentioned are reflected in the indicative delivery schedule included in the document. We have given an indication of the projects we propose to take forward and the indicative time frame for their delivery. We have had many requests at different times for certain projects; for example, we have had a lot of representations about the carriage of bicycles on buses. We believe that that is a good idea, but we also believe it requires a certain volume of bicycle use before it becomes evidently sensible. That is further down the track as far as the timetable of delivery is concerned.

The indicative delivery schedule breaks the 25-year strategy down into five five-year sections. Our intention has been to develop a specific delivery plan for each five-year period. For the first delivery plan, the intention has been to highlight key projects in the delivery plans rather than every single project, and the reason for that is to try to minimise the bureaucracy normally associated with monitoring delivery plans.

In the next slide, I have listed a number of the projects we have been working on. They include a number that have been taken forward by or in association with our partners. Members may well be familiar with some of the projects. For example, we relet the Active School Travel programme contract in June, along with the Public Health Agency (PHA). We also launched 'Exercise, Explore, Enjoy: A Strategic Plan for Greenways', which was published in November. Another key project you will see on the slide is the development of urban bicycle networks. We hope shortly to publish a public consultation on the draft Belfast bicycle network, which we have been working on over the past couple of years.

Members will see across the city different pieces of bicycle infrastructure. Some of it is very good — the Committee has been to the Connswater Community Greenway — and some of it is poor enough, to be perfectly honest. A fair description of the existing bicycle infrastructure is that it is in bits and pieces. The plans for a Belfast bicycle network are about delivering infrastructure that is convenient, comfortable, coherent and continuous — infrastructure that people will want to use because it is easy to use and gives accessibility and time savings, which are what people really want. Bike Life reported that almost every person in Belfast who was interviewed — over 1,100 were interviewed — and who did not currently cycle wanted traffic-free and protected or segregated bicycle infrastructure to encourage them to start. That is what the bicycle network aims to deliver. Six of the characteristics of the network are set out in the slide entitled "Belfast Bicycle Network: Features".

Over the past 12 months, we have started to deliver schemes in the city centre to join Belfast together. They are aimed at giving a safe space for cycling and connecting some of the existing fragmented routes.

The five projects we are working on are set out in this slide. They connect the Westlink cycle path in the west of the city to the Titanic Quarter station in the east through the city centre. We hope to extend those routes further to the west and east and, of course, to the north and south. We have a route that connects to the Lagan riverside pathway at the Gasworks site, for example. The infrastructure provides routes used by people on everyday bicycles and by those who use the Belfast bike share scheme, Belfast Bikes.

To give a little indication of the infrastructure we are thinking about, the two slides entitled "Better infrastructure" provide illustrations of the infrastructure we have delivered and are in the process of delivering. In the slide "Better infrastructure (1)", on the left-hand side you see we have a segregated cycle lane that over the past year was opened in Alfred Street. You can see there is segregation from other traffic through the use of wands. Segregated cycle lanes are planned for High Street, and they are being combined with a public realm scheme to make the street a better public space for everyone who uses it, such as shoppers and pedestrians, and to give it a sense of place and make it a more conducive environment for people to use and come into the city to enjoy.

On the slide "Better infrastructure (2)" are another couple of examples of the infrastructure we would like to see more of. On the left-hand side you can see the Lagan Weir bridge, which is completely traffic-free. We see a role for similar river crossings at, for example, Ormeau Park and the Gasworks and further up the river at Lagan Meadows in Stranmillis. On the right-hand side, you can see the north foreshore path, north of Fortwilliam, which is another traffic-free route. I have actually overtaken motorway traffic on that path during the morning rush hour.

What does the Belfast network look like? The next slide gives an indication that it is about not just the quality of routes but their reach or spread. The concept is broadly to have eight arterial and three orbital routes for the city. Those are illustrated on the left-hand side of the slide. They reach into every area of the city. We want to bring a good cycling route within the reach of the majority of people in the city, particularly to areas that, to date, have not been well served. Those are more in the west and the north. By "within reach", we mean within a quarter of a mile or 400 metres. The map on the right-hand side illustrates that reach, and we estimate that, if the network were to be delivered, around two thirds of Belfast city residents would be within reach of a good cycle route.

The next slide, "Arterial routes", is maybe a little too small. It portrays the eight arterial routes from north-east, east, south-east and right round to the west, north-west and north. We can provide bigger maps of those if members, like me, are having difficulty trying to figure out what is illustrated.

In the final slide, "Next steps", members will have noted the mistake in the third bullet point: "Belfast Bicycle" should, of course, read "Belfast bicycle network". We have developed a draft network, and the next stage is to hold a public consultation on it. All other things being equal, we intend to issue a public consultation document shortly and run a public consultation until the end of March or a little before Easter. We intend to hold consultation events throughout the city and to use social media to best effect, where we can, to get as wide a reach and as many comments and contributions as is possible. Our objective is, if possible, to get an agreed network by the final quarter of this year. Following that, after we have got the agreed Belfast bicycle network, we hope to continue the delivery of the network and start plans for other urban networks across Northern Ireland. We have already been in touch with a number of councils about their local development plans, and we look forward to working with them to develop better bicycle infrastructure in their areas.

That is my presentation, Chairman. Thank you very much.

The Chairperson (Mr Humphrey): Thank you very much.

Ms Armstrong: Thank you very much, Andrew, for your presentation. I was delighted, many years ago, to be at the Europa Hotel at an event for the first consultation on the Belfast bike strategy. I wonder what has happened since then and since the current strategy has been in place. You said that one tenth of people used bicycles: has there been a notable increase in the number of people using bicycles since the start of the first strategy until today?

Dr Grieve: There has. Anecdotally, you see more people on bicycles in the city. The 'Belfast Bike Life' report in 2015 indicated that, for the first time, there were about seven million bicycle journeys in Belfast in a year. With Sustrans, we will run another Belfast Bike Life study this year, which will report in October, so we will be able to do a comparison. That will be the first Bike Life report that provides a comparison.

In Northern Ireland generally, levels of cycling have not changed in the past 15 years. We have found that they have tended to go up in urban areas, particularly in Belfast, but they must be balanced by a reduction in other parts of the country. There has been a small increase. We will have better information for Belfast this year when the Bike Life study reports.

Ms Armstrong: Thank you. The second thing you mentioned was the Active School Travel programme. That is obviously not just in Belfast but across Northern Ireland. Has there been much take-up of it in rural areas? Back in my day, many years ago, many more children took bicycles to school. Of course, there were fewer cars on the road at that stage, but today we have more children being driven by car to school, and that causes problems around schools. Has any specific work been done to increase the number of rural schools that take up that programme?

Dr Grieve: When we set the criteria for Sustrans to deliver the programme, we gave it guidelines that it had to be properly proportioned across Northern Ireland. The split between urban and rural has to reflect the population split urban to rural, north to south and all that stuff. The guidelines it has ensure the programme is, let us say, implemented on a pro rata basis across the whole of the country. Rural schools have participated and do participate in the programme.

Rural schools have particular challenges, particularly in country areas where footpaths are missing. Part of this programme — the new programme we have included — is about trying to provide infrastructure in those areas to improve pathways and in other ways improve safety for children walking and cycling to school.

One of the things the programme does is to recognise that, particularly in rural areas but even in urban areas, some children live quite a distance away from their school. We have tried to encourage people to bring them to within half a mile of the school, park in a car park and then walk or cycle the last bit. That gets them active and gives them more physical activity. We have tried to tailor the programme to the circumstances rural schoolchildren have to face.

Ms Armstrong: Thank you very much. I am delighted to hear that because it has always been a concern of mine that, in rural areas, the uptake of cycling has not been as good. That is mainly because the infrastructure has not given parents and children the confidence to ride safely.

This is my final question. The public consultation you talked about is very welcome, and the methods you will use to reach out to people are very important. A number of people come into Belfast as commuters, in addition to the residents, and we talked about a modal shift to using bicycles. Will they be encouraged to take part in the public consultation, or is it mainly aimed at city residents?

Dr Grieve: Everyone will be able to take part in the public consultation. It is a full public consultation and will be available on our website etc. We will have the consultation events in the city. We hope to have eight or nine: one in the city centre and one in each of the areas with the arterial routes. Again, with social media, you have a far greater reach. We want everyone to contribute.

We feel it is important to have the consultation in particular areas because local knowledge about the best place to have a route is important. I can sit in my office or go out and about, and there are certain areas of the city I know well and others I do not. Part of it is about getting ideas from the people who live in those areas.

Ms Armstrong: I know that organisations such as the Royal Group of Hospitals have taken up very well the scheme under which employees can buy bicycles.

Dr Grieve: Yes, the cycle-to-work scheme.

Ms Armstrong: Will such organisations or businesses be asked or encouraged to share the consultation details with their staff?

Dr Grieve: In developing the draft network, we have consulted various stakeholders, but, as you said, we will target people and organisations that we want to make a contribution.

Ms Armstrong: Brilliant. Good luck, and I look forward to seeing the outcome.

The Chairperson (Mr Humphrey): The Department has rightly provided facilities — in conjunction, in some cases, with councils — to encourage cycling and to make it more user-friendly and safer. Is there ever a point where it causes difficulties for pedestrians or people who commute by car?

Dr Grieve: The simple answer to that is yes. Just as there is a problem with people driving carelessly, there is a problem with people cycling carelessly. Part of the difficulty that people who use bicycles have is that there is not sufficient bicycle infrastructure in the city, so the choice for them often is to go on the carriageway or on the footway. They should not go on the footway, but the carriageway poses particular risks. That is why the emphasis we have put into the draft network is on the provision of more cycling infrastructure and safe space for cycling. The attempt is to address that risk and concern.

The Chairperson (Mr Humphrey): Belfast Bikes has quite a number of bases across the city and on the main arterial routes into it. What role has the Department had in that through working with the council and so on?

Dr Grieve: In 2012 the Department ran an active travel demonstration competition, and Belfast City Council put forward what has become Belfast Bikes. The Department provided the capital funding for the project for the provision of the docking stations and the bicycles. Belfast City Council owns and runs the scheme. The role the Department has ended with the provision of the capital funding. The scheme will have been up and running for two years in April 2017. It opened in April 2015, and since then the Department has not had a role. We have had a tremendous interest in it, but we have not had a formal role at all.

The Chairperson (Mr Humphrey): Do you think it is working?

Dr Grieve: In 18 months there were 330,000-odd journeys on those bikes. Whenever you think about the cost of the scheme in the context of providing public transport, you see it is a low-cost solution. It has a far lower cost than public transport, so I think it has been a very successful scheme.

The Chairperson (Mr Humphrey): How successful has it been in relation to tourism?

Dr Grieve: I do not have a lot of information on that, but the big take-up in the Belfast Bike scheme has been from people who work, live or otherwise have business in the city. The way you tend to gauge it is by the annual memberships and three-day memberships. Anecdotally, the three-day memberships are visitors, and the annual memberships are people who want to use it all year round. The ratio of memberships is at, I think, about 50:50. About half the memberships are annual memberships, and about half are three-day memberships. The bulk of the use is by people with the annual membership.

The Chairperson (Mr Humphrey): The last meeting the Committee had about making the city centre more friendly and so on was with the Belfast Chamber, and we had a meeting then with Mr de Búrca about roads, traffic flow and bus lanes and all that.

As someone who lives and works in Belfast and represents Belfast, I think it is a very mixed bag. People articulated the view at that meeting — it is a view that I have heard consistently — that they do not take their car into town now because of the problem with the bus lanes, the possibility of getting fined if you go into a bus lane and the difficulty getting car parking and so on. Has the Department been taking the lead on bicycle use in Belfast? I am specifically talking about the city centre, Mr Grieve. If so, which organisations have you been liaising with?

Dr Grieve: You are almost tempting me to go into a wider sphere. With regard to the development of the Belfast bicycle network, we have consulted the council, Belfast City Centre Management, the Public Health Agency, Sustrans, NI Greenways and others. I could give you a full list if the Committee desires. We have tried to present to them the plans that we have in mind and to emphasise that in order to improve the vitality — economic, environmental or otherwise — of Belfast, it is important that we bring people, rather than particular kinds of vehicles, into the city. To enhance the volume of people coming into the city, we need to encourage more active travel and more public transport. If we tried to increase the number of people coming into the city using motor vehicles, we would see that we are already at capacity during rush hour. The way to do it is to focus on people who come into the city taking up less space on the road. One of our objectives or indicators in the Programme for Government is to increase the use of active travel on public transport, and that is what we are doing. The Minister has emphasised that we cannot continue doing what we have been doing over the past 10 or 15 years. The point that you make, Chair, is a very important one: it is important to take people and organisations with us.

The Chairperson (Mr Humphrey): Are you content that, in the consultations and the working relationships that you have with other organisations, you are taking people with you? Not literally on their bike.

Dr Grieve: That is to follow, of course. Does everyone agree entirely with what we are doing? The answer is no. However, with regard to the benefits of what we are trying to do and the benefits to the city, we are trying to encourage people to give it an opportunity and to see that it really is worthwhile. Our ears are open.

Mr E McCann: I spent the last few days in London, where, as you may know, there was a Tube strike on Monday.

The Chairperson (Mr Humphrey): Not because you were there, hopefully.

Mr E McCann: I certainly supported it and cheered them on saying, "Stick it out, lads".

The Chairperson (Mr Humphrey): Picket tourism.

Mr E McCann: One thing that struck me was the fact that I did not hear a single complaint from any member of the public despite the fact that many hundreds of thousands were seriously impacted, but then Londoners — I have worked there — are lovely people and are very good in a crisis and have a sense of camaraderie. However, you could not get what I have to call a "Boris bike" for love nor money. It would almost have been easier to get a taxi.

Dr Grieve: That would not have taken you anywhere.

Mr E McCann: Maybe. I noticed the bikes weaving in and out of the traffic. In a funny way, when traffic is so jammed and static, it is actually safer.

Dr Grieve: That is correct.

Mr E McCann: How far are we are we from extending the whole idea? They have them in Dublin now, and they started in Amsterdam. As I understand it, they have publicly owned bikes, and you put a pound in the slot or whatever. Where do we stand on that? I do not mean just in relation to Belfast. It struck me as a wonderful idea.

Dr Grieve: I encourage the Committee to bring Belfast City Council here to talk about the scheme because it knows more about it. I know because of the involvement five years ago that the scheme started off with 30 docking stations and about 300 bikes; it is now at 40 docking stations and nearly 400 bikes. It has extended to Titanic, Queen's, the hospitals, CS Lewis Square etc. There has been an extension. I understand that there is a review being undertaken to see what the next step should be. You could extend it into an area, or you could push the ring out a bit further. I encourage you to get in touch with Belfast City Council, as it would be in a better position to give you information. We are very supportive of an extension of the scheme, as they have done in Dublin, New York and in most places where these schemes are in place.

Mr E McCann: Just one other thing. This is, of course, a Belfast thing, but where else in the North do we have strategies or are we working towards having a strategy?

Dr Grieve: The plan is to go to the other urban areas in due course. We have not made any decision on where we go next. We started in Belfast because that is where the concentration of people is and where most cyclists are, but Derry is another option, as are Omagh and Ballymena. I have just pulled those names out of a hat.

Mr McCrossan: We will get you on a bike yet, Eamonn.

Mr E McCann: I have been on a bike.

The Chairperson (Mr Humphrey): That is the answer that he wanted.

Dr Grieve: If the Committee is interested, with Bike Week coming up this year, I would be happy to organise a cycle for the Committee.

The Chairperson (Mr Humphrey): You will appreciate that the Committee is not really in a position to make long-term plans.

Dr Grieve: It is good to sow a seed, Chairman.

The Chairperson (Mr Humphrey): We may well all be on our bikes very soon. If the Committee were to give that due consideration, I do not think that anybody would object. It is a good idea. Thank you very much for your time and your presentation.