Bulletin three - April 2024 - Active Travel Transformation

Purpose

This note provides Local Authorities (LAs), Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs), National Park Authorities (NPAs) and national delivery partners with an update on changes being taken forward through Active Travel transformation.

This bulletin provides detail on confirmed funding for Active Travel programmes to be taken forward through 2024-25.

Background

Scottish Government has confirmed the Active Travel budget at a record £220m for 2024-25, however significant pressures around wider public finances remain, and there is a need for all parts of the Scottish Government portfolio to ensure a path to a balanced budget. This requires difficult decisions as we establish our Transport Scotland programme for 2024-25.

To this end, Active Travel proposals for 2024-25 have been progressing through our Accountable Officer approval process. Previous bulletins have provided information on the delivery models for both infrastructure and behaviour change, and detail is now provided below on a number of the programmes to be taken forward through these models. 

Active Travel Transformation: Infrastructure

Tier 1 Funding - £35m

Through the new Tier 1 fund, £35m has been approved for provision direct to all 32 LAs. Formerly provided as Cycling, Walking and Safer Routes (CWSR), Tier 1 funding is the bedrock of our transformed Active Travel delivery system, realising both Ministerial and policy imperatives for scale of delivery on a national basis, as well as supporting the new fiscal environment introduced through the Verity House Agreement (VHA).

The total funding provided in 2024-25 is consistent with CWSR funding in previous years. Whilst Tier 1 funding is being provided as General Capital Grant, TS will undertake an annual assessment process regarding how the funding has been utilised, and this will inform future decisions to increase the amount of funding to be provided in Tier 1. As with CWSR, Transport Scotland will engage with Local Authority partners on expenditure and outcomes throughout the financial year.

Tier 1 funding is for spend on activity across the Active Travel system, with fund objectives to design, develop and deliver Active Travel interventions that will enhance the safety and accessibility of existing infrastructure, or introduce new provision to travel safely and more conveniently. Active Travel infrastructure delivered through Tier 1 funding should adhere to the principles outlined in the Active Travel Framework and Cycling by Design and should enable people to move more safely between settlements and key amenities on foot, cycling or wheeling. This is an intentionally broad remit to ensure LAs have the flexibility to both improve their own capacity and capability, as well as deliver the schemes they identify as priorities for their local communities. 

If further information or advice is required regarding the transition from CWSR to

Tier 1, or on potential expenditure through the new fund, please contact Lisa.Peebles@gov.scot 

Following funding approval, engagement is now taking place with CoSLA regarding the distribution methodology for Tier 1 funding and we hope for this to be approved in the coming weeks.

Update - Tier 2: Active Travel Infrastructure Fund (ATIF)

Our previous bulletin confirmed that almost 70 applications were received for the ATIF, with a funding request of nearly £60m.

Our independent consultants have been assessing the applications and actively engaging with Delivery Partners to clarify necessary details in order to have assurance that submitted projects are ‘construction-ready’. We would like to thank all our Delivery Partners for their prompt responses and for engaging with this process.

Projects that have been assessed as meeting the requirements of ‘construction-ready’ status are currently being ranked according to an assessment criteria. Transport Scotland aims to confirm the list of successful projects by the end of April, with Grant Offer Letters for funding in 2024/25 to follow shortly thereafter subject to internal Transport Scotland assurance/approval processes.

We are also working on transitioning a number of Places for Everyone projects to the ATIF. Due to the demand between Places for Everyone and ATIF, this shift is necessary to ensure continuation of projects. Transport Scotland will directly engage with those Local Authorities to prioritise projects where this transition is required.

Places for Everyone - £46.7m

Funding of £46.7m has been approved and provided for construction and design projects with contractual commitments in place.

Further approvals are also being sought to fund additional projects this year (both construction and design).

With the new tiered delivery model now introduced, the wind-down of Places for Everyone is now underway:

• from April 2024, Sustrans continue to manage existing construction projects that are already in train through Places for Everyone, and also fund and manage concept to design stages (0-4) of any new projects;
• from April 2025, Sustrans will deliver any remaining construction projects in the Places for Everyone tail, with TS now providing funding to support concept to design; and
• from December 2025, Places for Everyone will close, and TS will manage funding for construction projects, and concept and design

Sustrans Infrastructure Development Support Programme £3.7m

Funding of £3.7m has been provided to support a new programme that builds on successful work which Sustrans has delivered to support Local Authorities both strategically and practically including:

• Increased Embedded Officer Support;
• New Capacity Building Teams;
• Continued strategic reports (Hands Up Scotland Survey and Walking and Cycling Index);
• Ongoing development of the Network Planning Tool; and
• Continuation of Co-Design programme

Ian Findlay Path Fund £1.52m

Funding of £1.52 million has been provided to continue support for the Ian Findlay Path Fund. The Fund is open to, and targeted at, communities and their specific Active Travel needs such as upgrading local path quality, design, removing barriers and providing links to other walking, wheeling and cycling networks.

The Fund focuses on community engagement and empowerment in supporting the development of paths within local communities. This support includes building capability and capacity within communities with a view to them being able to use this knowledge and experience to expand their ambitions and take a leading role in identifying and driving forward future projects.

Active Travel Transformation: People and Place Programme

As advised in our previous bulletins, a new, regional delivery model for behaviour change is being introduced for 2024-25. RTPs will receive funding directly to coordinate delivery (supported by delivery partners) of a People and Place Programme, comprised of interventions identified as priorities with their respective LAs. Two funds have been established for 2024-25 that will supplement this programme:

Local Authority Direct Award Fund

Replaces the Smarter Choices, Smarter Places LA Fund to support the promotion or continued provision of active and sustainable modes of transport. Authorities were invited to provide notice of their intentions for their funding in March, which we have been grateful to receive.

Community Projects Transition Fund

A one-year programme, aligned with the themes of the People and Place programme, that ensures a route to funding for community-led projects that would previously have been supported by the Open Fund.

Bikeability will be supported as a national programme, led by Cycling Scotland.

Future updates

We intend to provide the next bulletin on Active Travel transformation in the coming weeks. This will update on further funding information, including provision for National Cycle Network, road safety, and trunk road funding. 

Information will also be made available on our Active Travel website, and work is now underway to update these webpages as required.

Finally, the latest edition of Scottish Transport Statistics (STS) was published on 27 March. STS is an annual compendium publication with 13 chapters including road transport, the road network, bus, rail, air, finance, and environment and emissions. For Active Travel, we can see a headline that while cycling saw a 3% decrease in 2022, cycling on the road network is still estimated to be 16% higher than in 2019.

Active Travel Team,Transport Scotland
19 April 2024