The Department for Transport is set to fall short of its objectives for increasing active travel

17 July 2023

The National Audit Office (NAO) recently revealed in a new report that the Department for Transport (DfT) will fall short of three out of its four objectives for increasing active travel by 2025.

This comes after the DfT announced in March that it will cut two-thirds of the funding which was to be invested into walking and cycling – a move which is being challenged by the Transport Action Network.

In 2020, the UK government promised thousands of miles of new, curb-protected cycleways with the aim of shifting active travel to be the natural choice for people taking short journeys and to increasing levels of walking and cycling to 50 per cent of journeys in towns and cities by 2030. However, NAO says that this is now likely to be unachievable.

Active Travel England was established by the DfT in 2022 to monitor the progress of active travel infrastructure implemented by local authorities through government funding. The NAO report says that Active Travel England has made ‘good early progress’ and identifies steps for the DfT to continue this momentum, including longer-term stable funding and supporting local authorities in delivering schemes.

Head of NAO Gareth Davies said, “Active travel schemes have the potential to deliver significant health and environmental benefits. However, the DfT knows little about what has been achieved through its past spending and is not on track to achieve most of its objectives.”

The report and NAO’s recommendations have been supported by members of the Walking and Cycling Alliance (WACA), who issued a joint statement urging the government to investigate and publish its estimates for the funding required to achieve its objectives.

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