Active travel routes in Wales
‘Active travel’ describes walking and cycling for purposeful everyday journeys, for example for shopping or to work or college. Walking and cycling are healthy activities in themselves, but when they replace car journeys this shift also has wider benefits for health and wellbeing, such as air quality, climate, and environmental benefits.
During 2023 the Welsh Government announced that it is investing further significant funding into encouraging and improving active travel journeys around the country. Walking and cycling routes are being boosted by £58 million of funding, increasing active travel spending from £15 million to £70 million since 2018. This equates to £22 per person in Wales, a substantially higher amount than the £1 per head that is spent in on active travel in England.
What is the active travel policy in Wales?
Since 2013, the Welsh Government and local authorities have had a legal duty to continuously improve provision for people to walk and cycle for local journeys under the Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013, with the aim to make this the most natural and normal way of getting around.
The Wellbeing of Future Generations Act 2015 put a duty on the public sector in Wales to meet our social, cultural, environmental and economic well-being in ways that must focus on sustainable principles. Active travel has been recognised as helping to achieve progress towards many of these goals, for example in terms of physical and mental health.
In response to the global climate crisis, the Welsh Government has made a commitment to reach a net zero carbon emission target by 2050. To reach this aim, reducing use of cars for short journeys and encouraging a shift to walking and cycling is needed swiftly. As a result, the Wales Transport Strategy sets a target of 45% of journeys to be made by walking, cycling and public transport by 2040.
This has led to an active travel revolution in Wales; the new £58m will see the construction of 37 new active travel routes and the development of a further 22.
Active travel routes and ecology
Active travel routes aim to provide a sustainable response to the climate and ecological emergency. With threats to biodiversity at an all-time high, it is key that ecology is considered at an early stage of the Active Travel Route development process. This enables the ecological value of the site to be assessed, the potential impacts and opportunities of the scheme in terms of biodiversity to be understood, and to ensure all relevant wildlife legislation and planning policy is considered.
Due to the nature of travel routes covering long distances, multiple habitat types such as woodland and watercourses may be present, which could include priority habitats requiring protection. The variety of habitats may provide potential for multiple protected species to consider such as bats, dormice, or great crested newts. Having a clear understanding of ecology requirements at an early stage means any survey work can be planned into timeframes to allow the scheme to progress without any delays, ensure any impacts are mitigated, and Net Benefit for Biodiversity (NBB) is achieved.
Planning Policy Wales requires all developments to achieve NBB, over and above what is required to mitigate or compensate any negative impacts. Active travel routes provide an excellent opportunity to create connecting corridors of habitat that work for nature as well as people, with potential to improve the links between and within habitats, and into the wider green infrastructure network.
Biodiversity enhancement of a travel route may include:
- Planting wildflower meadows, grasslands or hedgerows along route edges;
- Installing bird and bat boxes, and creating habitat piles for mammals, reptiles and insects;
- Creating ponds and wet habitats for amphibians;
- Using improved access to allow sensitive and seasonal management to improve onsite habitats.
Routes rich in wildlife and nature also benefit people by providing attractive areas which will encourage more users.
How can Wildwood help?
Wildwood Ecology are supporting a number of travel route schemes underway in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Monmouthshire, Ebbw Vale, and Vale of Glamorgan. This has included undertaking Preliminary Ecological Appraisals, protected species surveys, Ecological Impact Assessments, tree surveys and arboricultural reports, providing work supervision by an Ecological Clerk of Works, and preparing method statements and management plans.
A Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA) is an assessment tool that evaluates the biodiversity value of a site, assess the scale of any likely impacts of a proposal on protected sites, habitats or species and informs any actions needed to be taken to secure a successful outcome. A PEA normally comprises a desk study and a walkover survey. We would advise that a PEA is undertaken at an early stage to best inform the scheme.
Protected Species Surveys are required or when impacts to one or more legally protected species is considered likely and presence or likely absence needs to be determined. Protected species surveys are often restricted to specific times of the year, so early ecology input can help avoid delays.
Further documents to provide details of works and management measures may be required as conditions of planning. For example, a Biodiversity Method Statement Plan details working methods to ensure that the proposed work will not have a harmful effect on the any protected species or habitats. A Habitat Management Plan may be required to detail and timetable any management actions in the short and longer term.
The flowchart below shows the stages in planning and when input from an ecologist may be required.
References
Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2013/7/contents/enacted
Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015: https://www.futuregenerations.wales/about-us/future-generations-act/
Planning policy Wales: https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2021-02/planning-policy-wales-edition-11_0.pdf
Active Travel funding press release: https://www.gov.wales/welsh-government-celebrates-clean-air-day-58m-boost-active-travel
