AQW 19726/22-27

Mr Peter McReynolds
Alliance Party
East Belfast

Tabled Date: 11/12/2024
Answered On Date: 17/12/2024
Priority Written: Yes

Question:
To ask the Minister for Infrastructure, in relation to the active travel amendment in the Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, (i) whether his Department has defined what 10 per cent of the transport budget represents; (ii) how he will fund this figure; and (iii) when these figures and plans will be published.

Answer:

In defining the overall transport budgets, my department is working on the basis of including all the transport related functions of the department, including all expenditure in Transport and Roads Asset Management group as well as expenditure on public transport, which is predominantly Translink, and transport policy.

In the current financial year, £20.7m has been directly allocated to Active Travel capital projects and resource budgets. In addition to this allocation, my department routinely undertakes many activities for the benefit of pedestrians and cyclists that are not currently included within these figures. Officials are carrying out analysis of overall expenditure relevant to Section 22 of the Act for future reporting.

My department is working on the basis of ramping up overall active travel investment to meet Section 22 of the Climate Change Act obligations by 2030. A number of important steps have been taken to increase capacity to support the delivery of active travel including filling key posts within the Active Travel team and the appointment of an Active Travel Support Office. My department has also developed a draft Active Travel Delivery Plan, which is currently open for public consultation. When complete, this plan will complement the Belfast Cycling Network Delivery Plan (2022) and the Strategic Plan for Greenways (2016) to provide a firm basis for the future prioritisation of active travel infrastructure investment and delivery.

The delivery of the obligations will be subject to the availability of funding through the normal Executive budgetary processes.