Active Travel England at the Transport Select Committee – Part 2
This is the second part of my summary of the Active Travel England appearance in Parliament before the Transport Select Committee, following on from Part 1.
10) Different Funding Streams
(The numbering follows on from Part 1).
The witnesses were asked about piecemeal funding, and whether ATE can bring it all together.
DW said ‘we need to prove we are a safe pair of hands’, but different funding sources are not a problem.
CB said that part of ATE’s job is to coordinate different funding streams. The Treasury currently has ATE’s 3-year business plan in front of it, and ATE is waiting for it to be approved.
11) The Amount of Funding to 2025
Ruth Cadbury said that the 2025 target of 1.6 billion cycle stages needs £6-8 billion, and asked if ATE feel they have enough money.
DW answered by saying that local authorities have now returned their self-assessments (69 out of 70 on time), but some authorities aren’t yet in a place where they can meaningfully deliver.
ATE need to match funding with:
- local leadership and support and
- the technical capability to deliver
Of course ATE would like to be working with a bigger funding pot, but they need to find a way to mesh with current circumstances.
CB said that local authorities need consistency so that they can plan ahead and employ people. Those councils that are not ready to deliver projects should concentrate on building technical capability so that they can work with ATE.
12) Reallocating Road Space
Ruth Cadbury asked if local authorities are willing to reallocate road space.
DW said that some are, but by no means the majority.
CB said that rat-running has taken away space for alternatives to the car, and we need to reverse that. We have a choice as to how we use our collective road space.
13) How Does ATE Plan to Build Capacity in Local Authorities that are Not There Yet?
This question was from Robert Largan.
DW said that the first step is to train officers in planning and delivery. I believe this refers to capability and ambition funding mentioned in the self-assessment materials. DW said those letters went out this week.
ATE will also assess individual schemes and provide written feedback on how to improve them. They will be a Centre of Excellence providing (free) help to local authorities.
14) Planning
In planning, ATE will:
- influence policy frameworks and
- find ways to help local authorities know what good looks like (e.g. using toolkits)
The first toolkit will be issued in the next few days to around 24 local authorities, to road-test it on live plans. It will enable them to create templated reports.
The toolkits will be fully launched in April 2023.
15) ATE’s Role as a Statutory Consultee
ATE will become a statutory consultee on planning applications in April 2023.
They will review and triage any application for over 150 units, which will be about 3,000 developments per year. There will be a steamlined process so that of the 3,000, they only focus on the knottier ones.
16) Will ATE Engage with non-Local Authority Groups?
Mr Largan gave the example of volunteers from the Buxton Town Team who had come together and written their own sustainable and active travel plan for the town.
DW started explaining how ATE’s time will be spent, including:
- 56% on reviewing specific projects
- 33% on training and engagement with local authorities, developers, and possibly local advocates
On the other hand, CB said that ATE does not have the capacity to engage with local active travel groups.
DW said that over the 5 weeks ATE has been up and running, it has been clear that there is a huge amount of latent support bubbling away under the surface.
17) Inclusivity
Grahame Morris asked how to widen participation, to women, disabled people and ethnic communities.
CB said that until people feel safe and there is a connected network of routes, anything that you try to do will have a low impact. Where a network of routes is provided, as in the Netherlands, a wider variety of people do cycle – for example 51% of cyclists are women in Holland.
DW said that accessibility and disability will be at the heart of what ATE does, and ATE will make every effort to look and feel like the country it represents.
18) Rural Areas
DW said that ATE has to focus on more densely-populated areas, but there is funding for rural areas. He would like kids to walk or bike to school from villages to the towns where they study.
CB reiterated that it is a question of cost – £9 billion if you concentrate on the ‘easy’ areas, or £18 billion if you spread resources to rural areas.
19) Is there a Risk of a Postcode Lottery?
CB says it is a ‘leadership lottery’.
‘We work with the willing, and we don’t have the capacity or the time to deal with people who don’t want to do it.’
20) Problems Created by Local Authorities
Robert Largan asked about various problems and obstacles created by local authorities including:
- s106 money that gets lost between District Councils and County Councils
- local authorities consulting to death
- over-engineering of schemes to make them too expensive
- using DfT rules as an excuse not to do anything for active travel
CB said that ATE will be publishing a map of the country, showing who is performing and who is not interested. This will be a good way of applying public pressure to local authorities.
21) When Will the ATF4 Fund Be Announced?
DW said it is ready to go and has been approved by the Secretary of State for Transport. It is waiting for sign-off by the Treasury.