Active travel means walking and cycling (including the use of mobility scooters) for everyday journeys. This includes journeys to school, to work, to the shops or to access services e.g. health or leisure centres. Active travel does not include walking and cycling for recreational or social reasons.
In September 2014, the Welsh Government introduced the Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013 which makes it a legal requirement for local authorities in Wales to map and plan for suitable routes for active travel within certain settlements, as specified by Welsh Government.
The Council submitted their Integrated Network Maps in November 2017 which set out the Authority’s aspirations for improving active travel routes across the County over the next 15 years.
They included routes that were currently used but may not have met the standard of Active Travel routes, or they were routes that did not exist but were identified within other strategic plans, or identified through the consultation process.
Image credit: Sustrans
Section 4 of the Act requires that the next edition of the INM should be submitted by local authorities three years following the previous edition, or no later than a date specified by the Welsh Ministers. In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ministers considered it appropriate to extend the submission of the next round of integrated networks maps and updated existing routes maps to 31 December 2021.
The Vale of Glamorgan Council held extensive consultation with the public throughout 2021, and the new Active Travel Network Map was approved by Welsh Government in August 2022.