AQW 21631/17-22

Mr Andrew Muir
Alliance Party
North Down

Tabled Date: 07/07/2021
Answered On Date: 19/07/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Infrastructure for her assessment of the success of the establishment of the Walking and Cycling Champion.

Answer:

Last year, I created the position of a ‘Walking and Cycling Champion’ to place walking, wheeling and cycling at the heart of the work of my Department and to encourage more active travel. My Director of Transport Policy assumed the role of Champion to embed culture change within my Department. This culture change work is critical to delivering the step change in active travel I believe is required.

I recently published ‘Planning for the Future of Transport – Time for Change’ which outlines the Department’s priorities for the future of transport. This document was produced by the Walking and Cycling Champion’s Transport Policy team and sets out how my Department must work in a different way in order to assist in putting the right schemes in the right places. It includes a modal hierarchy that should be adopted. The hierarchy requires the prioritising of sustainable transport by firstly providing for walking and wheeling and secondly by providing for cycling. Other modes are ranked based on their sustainability as follows; public transport, taxis and shared transport and goods vehicles, and private cars and motorcycles.

‘Planning for the Future of Transport – Time for Change’ will be used in the development of the forthcoming Local Transport Plans (LTP) which must be prepared in an integrated and iterative manner with the local Councils’ Local Development Plans. This will ensure that walking and cycling are embedded in the heart of future transport and land-use planning decisions.

The Walking and Cycling Champion recommended the consideration of inter-urban cycling links within the forthcoming Regional Strategy Transport Network Transport Plan (RSTNTP) and as a result the greenway network will be assessed for inclusion in the plan.

The Champion has made progress in moving forward a programme of measures to reallocate road space, creating more opportunities for walking, wheeling and cycling drive a green recovery and improve public health. She played a key role in the development of ‘Making Belfast an Active City – Belfast Cycling Network 2021’, a blueprint which captures my ambition to develop the cycling infrastructure in Belfast, not just for the next year, but for the next 10 years and more.

This year I have committed £11 million of my £20 million Blue / Green Infrastructure Fund specifically to walking and cycling schemes delivered by my Department. A further £2.5 million of this fund has been allocated to greenway projects. This £13.5 million is the highest allocation for active travel in any year.

I make no pretence that my Department has delivered as much progress on active travel as I would have wanted in my time as Minister, but I believe that creating a Walking and Cycling Champion as a focal point in the Department has been a key component in what has been achieved and embedding this focus and culture change across the department will prove to be key to accelerating progress in the year ahead.