Active Travel Strategy 2023-30 : Evidence Report D

Delivering active travel projects in Scotland can require partnership working across a variety of sectors and stakeholders.

This chapter sets out the key roles and responsibilities of different groups in delivering projects and policy as well as identifying key challenges that will have to be overcome to ensure progress can be continued in East Dunbartonshire following the Active Travel Strategy 2015-2020.

The Scottish Government

Through the annual budget setting process, the Scottish Government allocates a sum of money to be spent on active travel projects across the country. This money is then distributed to delivery partners through various funding schemes. The annual budget for 2021/22 allocated £115m for active travel. The Scottish Government has agreed to increase the proportion of Transport Scotland’s budget spent on active travel initiatives from 3.5% to 10% to 2024/25.

Transport Scotland

Transport Scotland is the national transport agency responsible for delivering the Scottish Government’s national transport agenda. Transport Scotland does not get directly involved in local transport projects unless it will impact the strategic rail or trunk road networks. However, Transport Scotland does filter through some active travel spend through its Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets Programme.

Sustrans Scotland

Sustrans Scotland is a national charity aimed at increasing the numbers of people walking and cycling through creating places that are happier and healthier for everyone. Sustrans is the custodian of the National Cycling Network. A significant proportion of the Scottish Government’s active travel budget is administered through Sustrans and distributed by funds including the Places for Everyone and Street Design programmes. Sustrans coordinates the iBike programme in Scotland which involves local iBike officers working with children and young people helping them overcome barriers to cycling participation. There are currently two iBike officers embedded within East Dunbartonshire Council who work in schools across the local area - East Dunbartonshire is the only local authority in Scotland to have more than one.

East Dunbartonshire Council

East Dunbartonshire Council is the roads authority for the area meaning the Council has a duty to provide a safe local road network. This includes managing carriageways and footways (generally referred to as pavements). The Council has the authority to change the use and function of public roads through a Traffic Regulation Order process. This process can be used to regulate the types of users allowed on specific roads and the nature of the use of specific roads such as one-way streets or speed limits. The Council’s Capital Programme includes an annual budget for the maintenance of the road network however this does not include funds for the maintenance of off-road networks. Where off-road networks are situated on public land then the Council can undertake works to maintain the networks provided external funding is secured for such works. Maintenance of off-road networks situated on private land is the responsibility of the relevant land owner however partnership working with the Council to deliver improvements is encouraged wherever appropriate.

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) is the regional transport partnership for the Strathclyde region. SPT is a partnership of eleven local authorities across the region, including East Dunbartonshire Council. The Council can apply to SPTs annual capital programme to receive funds for delivering active travel projects which will serve functional travel trips in the local area and across the region.

Paths for All

Paths for All is a Scottish charity who champion everyday walking for a happier, healthier Scotland. Paths for All administer the Smarter Choices Smarter Places fund on behalf of the Scottish Government. The Smarter Choices Smarter Places fund aims to encourage people to change their everyday travel behaviours and the Council can apply to the fund to secure support to implement such behaviour change initiatives.

Cycling Scotland

Cycling Scotland is the national cycling organisation and offer a range of programmes to help anyone, anywhere get cycling and to enjoy all the benefits it can provide. These programmes include training, campaigns and events. For training, Cycling Scotland coordinate the Bikeability Scotland programme which is designed to give children the skills and confidence to cycle safely on the roads and encourage habits to carry on into adulthood. Bikeability is currently offered in all primary schools in East Dunbartonshire. Cycling Scotland also offer a number of Cycling Friendly programmes which deliver support and guidance to workplaces, schools and communities across the country to be more cycling friendly.

In addition to the groups highlighted above, there are several organisations and stakeholders that all play their part in delivering active travel projects in East Dunbartonshire. Local communities can be at the heart of efforts through collaborative consultation with the Council and by delivering directly where possible. Cycling UK is an active group across Scotland and can provide support to local authorities in implementing active travel hubs. The Energy Saving Trust is an independent organisation working to address the climate emergency. People across Scotland, including East Dunbartonshire, can access the Energy Saving Trust’s e-bike grant fund which provides support to people looking to buy an e-bike. Living Streets is the UK charity for everyday walking and coordinates national initiatives to encourage walking including the Walk Once a Week (WOW) programme and the national Walk to School Week.

The organisations mentioned above and the funds mentioned are annual funds which can support the delivery of projects. These funds are not the only programmes the Council can access as new funds are being announced and explored on an ongoing basis e.g. the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund and UK Community Renewal Fund. Other groups within East Dunbartonshire can also access funds that are not available to the Council for the delivery of smaller more focused projects within the community.

In 2015, the Council approved and published its first Active Travel Strategy (ATS). The ATS had three aims:

• Facilitate an increase in the proportion of everyday journeys and leisure journeys made by walking and cycling in East Dunbartonshire.
• Deliver a more connected network of active travel routes and infrastructure incorporating high environmental and design standards.
• Facilitate delivery of behavioural change, through activities such as training and promotion of active travel.

To deliver on these aims, the ATS had two distinct action plans for infrastructure and behaviour change actions.

To deliver active travel infrastructure projects, a three-stage delivery process is routinely followed to get projects from the idea stage to getting projects on the ground. This process begins with a feasibility study to scope out what the project could entail and identify any problems that will need to be considered further down the line. Following feasibility, the next stage is to design what the infrastructure will look like and how it will be integrated into the environment which will surround it. Once the project is fully designed and planned then the construction phase will commence.

The infrastructure action plan within the first ATS listed a number of projects to be progressed through various stages of the delivery process. The Wester Way was constructed in Bishopbriggs which converted the old Westerhill Road into an active travel corridor parallel to the fourth phase of the Bishopbriggs Relief Road. The towpath of the Forth and Clyde Canal at Twechar was upgraded to provide an enhanced surface for walking, cycling and wheeling in the area. A number of access and path enhancements to green and open spaces were delivered throughout the lifetime of the ATS. Additional cycle spaces were installed in town centres and rail stations across the area including delivery of the Milngavie travel hub at Milngavie rail station. The Kirkintilloch Town Centre Masterplan was delivered during the ATS period including making the Cowgate a 20 mph speed limit area.

Plans were progressed along the delivery process for projects including an East Dunbartonshire Loop Route. The loop project aims to connect all of East Dunbartonshire’s main settlement areas through one circuit that can provide additional opportunities for everyday travel as well as providing an attractive tourism asset to help local businesses by encouraging people to visit the area. A feasibility study was completed on the loop route which identified existing infrastructure which could form part of the route and missing links which would require to be improved to deliver one complete circuit. This work led to additional works being programmed and progressed to address these missing links and this work and ongoing delivery will continue.

Feasibility and design work was completed on the Kirkintilloch/Lenzie to Bishopbriggs link which was planned to run parallel to the railway from Lenzie station to Westerhill. Final elements of design and work with landowners are being completed to ensure that the construction of this link can be delivered. A feasibility study was also completed on the A803 corridor through Bishopbriggs to deliver a Quality Bus and Cycle Corridor and this work will inform the significant £35m City Deal project which is being delivered across Bishopbriggs.

Other projects have also progressed through the delivery process with some experiencing issues. In some cases, barriers outwith the Council’s control have halted progress and others are continuing to be progressed by delivery partners and teams within the Council.

Several actions were included within the behaviour change action plan for the first ATS. Actions focused on achieving behaviour change within schools, among employers and the general public.

The work completed by iBike officers and Bikeability instructors in schools across East Dunbartonshire was a positive story from the last ATS with a significant number of children and young people learning valuable skills and gaining confidence in travelling actively as part of their everyday lives including to and from school. Challenges for delivering actions within schools included creating new travel plans for all schools. Action 16a of the Parking Management Plan states that every school in East Dunbartonshire will be provided with material informing students, parents and associated school workers about active travel routes and provision around the individual school.

The Council’s Healthy Habits programme is designed to encourage local people to walk and cycle more as part of their everyday journeys. This programme has continued to grow with information signage showing local routes now in place across all towns and villages in East Dunbartonshire. This included delivering the East Dunbartonshire Walking and Cycling Maps and associated signage for each identified route. This package of maps includes both maps of individual communities with traffic-free routes, recommended routes and green spaces and a map of East Dunbartonshire as a whole. Delivery teams within the Council also organised and supported Healthy Habits event days where families and local communities came along and took part in activities and picked up maps and accessories to encourage them to continue to walk and cycle or allow new users to gain information to help them shift to active travel.

Resource challenges meant that limited progress was made on delivering behaviour change actions for local employers. The role and influence the Council has in delivering such actions will be re-examined to inform the type of actions which should be prioritised within the new strategy.

Significant work has been undertaken to deliver the actions of the first ATS, this work is ongoing as the Council and partners continue to identify new funding streams to deliver projects across the area. However, as identified above there have been challenges in delivering specific projects and looking wider across the transport sector in Scotland, there have been significant challenges in delivering active travel projects across Scotland.

Following decisions by local authorities to halt or cancel progress on segregated cycleways (including the Bears Way), in 2016 the Scottish Government set up an Active Travel Task Force to gather views from across the sector on challenges facing the delivery of projects, setting out recommendations and an associated delivery plan. The recommendations set out below are particularly relevant to the Council and will be considered as the second ATS is prepared to ensure the Council can learn from the Active Travel Task Force findings and overcome challenges as much as possible from the outset. The recommendations are categorised into four groups: infrastructure; policies, processes and resources, community engagement; and behaviour change and culture.

Infrastructure

Recommendation:

Criteria for funding for walking, cycling and place-making projects must include the delivery of infrastructure combined with appropriate behaviour change programmes, in a way that is enforced and timely, sequential and coordinated, using planning policy and international best practice

Context for East Dunbartonshire:

The first ATS had distinct infrastructure and behaviour change action plans as a combined effort to increase the levels of walking and cycling in the area. Infrastructure projects were complemented with behaviour change initiatives such as the opening of the Wester Way in Bishopbriggs. The draft priorities for the second ATS include empowering all groups of people to actively travel more. Efforts will be made to combine infrastructure and behaviour change initiatives as much as possible to deliver on this recommendation.

Recommendation:

As a preventative spend measure, cross-portfolio investment (e.g. from health, transport, environment and education directorates) should prioritise the delivery of a network of continuous and safe walking and cycling infrastructure routes, working in partnership with local authorities and other relevant stakeholders.

Context for East Dunbartonshire:

Significant engagement has taken place through the Active Travel Discussion and development of the second ATS to gain input from a variety of stakeholders including the four portfolios mentioned within the recommendation. The draft priorities for the second ATS recognise the health benefits including preventative benefits for local people and discussions with the Health and Social Care Partnership at the early stages of strategy development will aim to integrate ideas and plans for active travel from across the sector to ensure delivery is coordinated providing multiple benefits for a variety of stakeholders.

The second ATS is being prepared alongside the Council’s Climate Action Plan, therefore the plans for enhancing active travel will be fully integrated into the Council’s planning for reducing the area’s emissions and overall contribution to climate change.

School pupils, teachers and parents/carers are key consultees in the early stages of this strategy development with over 1800 responses being received highlighting how active travel can be made more attractive to all and how schools can be supported to encourage greater participation.

Policies, processes and resources

Recommendation:

The match funding criteria should be reconsidered and the range of those organisations able to bid for active travel funding should be widened to ensure an open, fair and transparent process

Context for East Dunbartonshire:

In August 2020, the Scottish Government reduced match funding requirements for infrastructure projects delivered through the Places for Everyone programme to 30%. This was previously 50% meaning that successful applications to the programme will now be 70% funded by it. This could be an opportunity for the Council in the future to deliver projects with reduced burdens of match funding.

Recommendation:

The collective impact of active travel strategies/plans, and related policies across national, regional and local levels, should be measured and monitored longitudinally.

Context for East Dunbartonshire:

The Local Transport Strategy 2020-2025 sets out a monitoring plan based on a series of indicators. A similar approach would be taken for the second ATS to ensure that the effects of ongoing action are measured in local communities and across the area as a whole.

Recommendation:

National, regional and local ownership and planning and delivery of active travel projects between policy departments must be more coordinated, and include as a minimum, planning, environment, health and education departments within central and local governments. Regional Transport Partnerships need to be better resourced to address cross-boundary issues, in partnership with other stakeholders.

Context for East Dunbartonshire:

This is a strong element within the Council as partnership working across all relevant services is helping to progress delivery of the second ATS. All services included within the recommendation are already involved and will continue to contribute to the development and delivery of actions. SPT is the regional transport partnership for this area and has been involved in the Active Travel Discussion. SPT is also progressing work on active travel at the regional level which can feed into – and learn – from the process to deliver a second ATS.

Recommendation:

There must be prominent and consistent national government and stakeholder support to enhance strong leadership at the local level to help make the often unpopular, but right decisions.

Context for East Dunbartonshire:

Decision-making on the second ATS and individual projects are carried out by the Council’s Place, Neighbourhood and Corporate Assets Committee. Elected members have been involved throughout the Active Travel Discussion process and will continue to be involved to inform their decision-making.

Recommendation:

A policy of reducing urban traffic and transferring carriageway space to active travel should be considered, including workplace parking levy, road user charging and encouraging more car-sharing.

Context for East Dunbartonshire:

This requires consideration through the second ATS, however, the main policy objectives for transport in East Dunbartonshire are included within the Local Transport Strategy 2020-2025 which supports sustainable travel, including active travel, in preference to private car travel. National (NPF4, STPR2) and regional (Regional Transport Strategy) policy share aims to reduce the total mileage of the private car by 20%. STP’s forthcoming RTS goes further, aiming to increase modal share of sustainable modes to 45% by 2030.

Community engagement

Recommendation:

The active travel message should be promoted clearly to the general public and politicians, as being primarily about ‘place’, and having pride in their communities and local environment. Infrastructure projects are not just about walking or cycling. Community Planning Partnerships and local communities need to be included from the outset and consider wider public transport requirements, such as walking routes to bus stops.

Context for East Dunbartonshire:

The Community Planning Partnership has been involved in early discussions regarding developing the second ATS and this will continue as the process develops. The Active Travel Discussion was held in conjunction with a consultation on the new Green Space Strategy which aims to understand how people access and enjoy different areas of green and open space within their community therefore the active travel consultation intertwines with this providing benefits and a larger collective response to both consultations. This partnership working on the ATS and Green Space Strategy will continue as both develop due to their close links with each other.

In terms of active travel to public transport, this is recognised within the priorities for the second ATS, improving integration between public transport and active travel is identified as a priority.

Recommendation:

Delivery partners must ensure they conduct strong public consultation exercises and community engagement from the very start of design and planning. This must be inclusive and representative, using appropriate and innovative techniques that enable the target population to understand the project and processes and be properly involved. This will include community groups, businesses and Police Scotland which must follow the legislation in The Fairer Scotland Duty.

Context for East Dunbartonshire:

Outlined in greater detail in this Evidence Report, the Active Travel Discussion was a significant and inclusive period of consultation held to kick-start the second ATS. New ways of working for the Council in both awareness raising and engagement were used to reach a wider audience and ensure that an open discussion was had. This included specific discussions with local school communities to ensure their voices were heard. Community groups and stakeholders were also involved in the discussion and significant work was undertaken to ensure a wide-ranging and inclusive consultation was held to gather everyone’s ideas and views for the future of active travel networks in East Dunbartonshire.

Behaviour change and culture

Recommendation:

There must be investment in behaviour change programmes for the longer term to normalise walking and cycling for everyday journeys, including walking to public transport as part of multi-modal journeys. These should be balanced and coordinated with infrastructure/placemaking and media campaigns and must include enforcement of road safety and parking legislation in favour of pedestrians and cyclists.

Context for East Dunbartonshire:

Empowering all groups to walk, cycle and wheel more through behaviour change programmes has been identified as a draft priority for the second ATS, as has integrating public transport and active travel. The Local Transport Strategy 2020-2025 sets out objectives which support sustainable travel, including active travel, in preference to private car travel. The LTS also identifies an action for a Parking Management Plan to be put in place. A Parking Management Plan was approved by the Council in June 2022 which sets out the Council’s approach and policies for managing parking in line with the sustainable objectives of the LTS.

Recommendation:

The Fairer Scotland Duty, which is a key component in changing behaviour relating to active travel, will challenge all public sector bodies, including the Scottish Government, NHS and local authorities, to tackle social and economic disadvantage in local areas. This will include tackling transport poverty and increasing access to bikes.

Context for East Dunbartonshire:

Reducing inequalities by providing high-quality access for all is one of the objectives of the Local Transport Strategy 2020-2025. The policy and key statistics section of this Evidence Report highlight policy and evidence specific to active travel for different groups and the challenges they face. This is reflected in the priority for the second ATS to empower all groups of people to walk, cycle and wheel more.

Groups of people from all backgrounds were invited to join the Active Travel Discussion and the findings from this work are summarised in this Evidence Report. The impact of the second ATS for different equality groups within East Dunbartonshire will be considered as the strategy is developed including through a wider Equalities Impact Assessment and on a more local basis for individual projects.

Delivering active travel projects in Scotland requires cooperation between different organisations; national, regional and local government, Transport Scotland, charities and organisations. Alongside physical projects, soft measures encouraging behaviour change towards sustainable modes of transport are important to ensure the long-term success of investment in active travel. The Active Travel Taskforce, formed in 2016, provides recommendations for active travel projects following multiple failed projects. The taskforce recommends:

• Funding infrastructure and behaviour change measures for active travel occurs in an enforced, timely, sequential and coordinated .manner (1.1)
• Recognise benefits of active travel spending from a cross-portfolio, preventative spend perspective (i.e. investment in active travel has public health benefits) (1.2.).
• Coordination of active travel infrastructure and strategies across sectors and local/regional boundaries (2.4).
• Communication of the positive case for active travel to the public through collaboration with Community Planning Partnerships (3.1).
• Long-term investment in behaviour change programmes (4.1).
• Use active travel investment to tackle inequalities (4.3).

The taskforce’s recommendations, when deployed simultaneously and supported by different actors in active travel policy, aim to create a context for the effective roll-out of active travel infrastructure and measures in Scotland.