Local active travel plans are boosted by Welsh Government funding

Bridgend County Borough Council is set to receive £1.5m to facilitate new and improved active travel routes across the county borough.  Enhancements will include building new active travel routes, consultation work for future scheme developments, as well as promotion work.

Welsh Government will invest over £58m into active travel routes across Wales, in a bid to encourage people to make more sustainable choices of travel for short journeys, such as walking or cycling.

The Deputy Minister, responsible for transport, recently said: “Walking and cycling provides a practical and vital response to help Wales meet its environmental and health targets.

The Active Travel (Wales) Act puts pressure on us to deliver on high-quality active travel networks that encourage more and more people to regularly walk and cycle for journeys instead of using a car.”

Since 2018, the Welsh Government has increased active travel funding from £15m to £70m across Wales. This investment allows local authorities, including Bridgend County Borough Council, to implement the necessary changes on our roads to facilitate active travel.

Earlier Welsh Government funding for active travel routes has allowed the county borough to benefit from active travel upgrades, including widened footways along sections of the A48 and A473 for shared use facilities, vegetation clearance, traffic sign and street lighting improvements and more.

We welcome this further funding of £1.5m, so that we can continue to invest in active travel routes across the county borough – with the largest allocation being directed at a new active travel route between Ynysawdre and Bryncethin – encouraging people to make more physically active journeys, which will not only have a positive impact on the mental and physical health of residents, but also on the environment.

Councillor Spanswick, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment