The Government is not on track to meet its targets to increase cycling and walking and should consider whether they remain achievable, Parliament’s spending watchdog has said.
In a new report, the National Audit Office (NAO) has put a figure of £233m to recent cuts to the Department for Transport’s (DfT) dedicated active travel spending and questioned its claim that £5.2bn of non-ring-fenced funding will be spent on active travel.
The report also notes that the DfT has recently made changes in its approach to investing in active travel which it said should improve the outlook for its longer-term ambitions.
However, it identified longer-term stable funding as an issue to be addressed if the early momentum from the creation of quango Active Travel England (ATE) is to be maintained.
The NAO noted that the DfT estimates that government will provide around £6.6bn on active travel interventions between 2016 and 2025 but does not yet know if the schemes delivered by local authorities to date have been of good enough quality and does not have a plan in place to track the benefits of its active travel investment.
It noted that of the £6.6bn, only £1.4bn is dedicated funding for active travel, while £5.2bn is non-ring-fenced funding: £3.94bn from wider DfT funds and £1.27bn from wider government.
'The level of funding for active travel from these non-ring-fenced funds is uncertain and depends on the sponsoring department’s fund criteria and the proposals put forward by local authorities. Active travel may be one of several ways to deliver against the priorities of these wider funds, so departments may or may not choose to provide funding for it,' the NAO said.
Source: NAO
It added that that more than half (56%) of local authorities - who play a significant role in delivering interventions - have low capability and ambition to deliver active travel projects, which has affected the quality of active travel interventions delivered with government funding to date.
In terms of Government targets, the NAO said progress to date suggests the DfT will not achieve three of its four 2025 objectives for increasing active travel, and progress on the fourth is uncertain.
It noted that the DfT undertook modelling last year to assess the likelihood of meeting its 2025 objectives and found that these were unlikely to be met
NAO head Gareth Davies said: ‘Active travel schemes have the potential to deliver significant health and environmental benefits. However, DfT knows little about what has been achieved through its past spending and is not on track to achieve most of its objectives.
‘DfT has raised its ambitions for active travel and recognised areas where its performance must improve. Establishing Active Travel England is a good step; Active Travel England and DfT must now maintain this early positive momentum, by learning what works and applying it and building partnerships across central and local government.’
The NAO said the DfT has recognised several long-standing issues with active travel investment and recently changed its approach. In 2022, it established ATE to raise the design standards of active travel infrastructure, hold local authorities to account for their investments in active travel, provide advice on how to improve walking and cycling provision, and increase the skills and capacity in local authorities to deliver active travel schemes.
According to the NAO, ATE has made good early progress in tackling long standing issues. Its report identifies areas that the DfT and ATE must continue to work on if they are to maintain this momentum. These include developing longer-term stable funding for active travel, building greater capability in local authorities and making people feel safer.
The Government's targets include increasing the percentage of short journeys in towns and cities that are walked or cycled from 41% in 2018-19 to 46% in 2025, 50% in 2030 and 55% in 2035.
The NAO said the DfT should review its targets, including considering whether they remain achievable, ‘or whether it would be appropriate to adjust its targets, considering progress to date and available funding’.
A DfT spokesperson said: ‘We are committed to ensuring that more people choose to walk, wheel and cycle across England and that’s why we are investing £3bn up to 2025, more than any previous government, to help people choose active travel.
‘Active Travel England was established last year to drive up standards of active travel schemes, working closely with local authorities to make sure they deliver high quality schemes which work for, and encourage, local residents to travel actively.’
The Walking and Cycling Alliance – a coalition of campaign groups – said the failure to meet the DfT objectives would ‘directly impact future generations and their ability to walk, wheel and cycle safely, leaving a legacy of poor air quality and reduced public health’.
It renewed calls for the Government to publish its own evidence for the funding required to achieve its targets.
Sustrans CEO Xavier Brice said: ‘It’s clear the Government has backpedalled on its promises, and is missing an easy win on the path to achieving net zero commitments, with proven benefits for public health.
‘This report reveals that active travel objectives are in tatters, and only serves to highlight that long-term and ring-fenced investment can transform lives, if done well.’
Cllr Linda Taylor, transport spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said: 'Councils have been at the forefront in creating new active travel schemes, and have embraced the Government’s ambition that 50 per cent of all journeys in English towns and cities are walked or cycled by 2030, and for the UK to be Net Zero by 2050.
'It is therefore disappointing that councils have seen an unexpected £200 million cut to their budgets for these projects and the Government should urgently restore this much needed funding.'
