awjreynolds

West of England to lose millions in Active Travel funding over a technicality

In August, Active Travel England required all Highways Authorities (HAs) to submit an Active Travel Capability and Ambition self-assessment. This assessment scores HAs on three aspects:

  • Local leadership and support
  • Local Cycling Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) Maturity
  • Schemes delivered

The rumour is that you ATCA score appears to determine what level of funding you had access to:

  • Level 0 = No money
  • Level 1 = Small schemes
  • Level 2+ = Major (potentially multi-year) schemes

Metro Combined Authorities could submit a one-off assessment for all their constituent HAs. West of England Combined Authority (WECA) chose this route submitting a score of 2 (Leadership 2, LCWIP 3, Schemes delivered 1).

The problem comes in 2023

So this year Bristol, South Glos, and Bath & North East Somerset Highways Authorities will be able to bid for significant funds. However WECA’s LCWIP, is greater than the sum of its parts, and when individual HAs submit their ATCA assessment next August (2023), they will find their individual section of the LCWIP will not achieve Level 3 and will be marked down.

My authority has finalised LCWIP(s) and:

  • Most are published online
  • The schemes in them are compliant with LTN 1/20
  • Collectively the LCWIPs(s) cover most of the population in the Local Authority area
  • Completed extensive engagement with a wide range of stakeholders
  • Started delivering some elements of the LCWIP
  • An agreed 10-year pipeline of active travel schemes
  • Schemes that help to unlock development sites have been developed and designed to a sufficient stage of readiness for development contributions to be sought at appropriate levels.

In fact it is likely that Bristol, BaNES, and S Glos are likely to get level 1 causing a downgrade in access to Active Travel England’s Active Travel Fund.

Make the LCWIP a live document

WECA has committed to updating the LCWIP at the end of 2023 due to the impact of the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement accelerating project deliveries, BUT given that the ATCA assessments happen in August 2023, then Bristol, S Glos, and BaNES Highways Authorities hands are tied and have no mechanism to be able to update their improved section of the LCWIP in time for the assessment. It’s going to hurt us badly.

The responsibility to fix this falls upon Dan Norris’ shoulders. It’s a minor technicality that needs fixing today. If he does nothing, the blame is squarely on his shoulders. Allowing Highways Authority to submit updates to their LCWIP sections is a no brainer. Although given the poor state of the LCWIP maybe just start again…but whatever Dan does, he has to act fast. Really fast.

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