19/02/21

    Cardiff Council's Cabinet will consider the council's response to the Wales Transport Strategy at its meeting on February 25^th.

    The council supports the vision, ambition and priorities that have been set out by Welsh Government - but with a number of caveats - to ensure that Cardiff retains control over our Local Transport Plan and receives adequate long-term funding to deliver the transport improvements required in the Welsh Capital.

     The Council has set out a 10-year transport vision for the city in February 2020, which has been recognised as a UK-Wide exemplar of best practice, both in terms of delivery and development. The White Paper sets out how the council is going to tackle dangerous emissions from transport which contributes to climate change, reduce congestion, improve public transport and active travel routes, and improve the air quality in the city.

     Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport, Cllr Caro Wild said: "The Council fully supports the priorities that have been set out by Welsh Government in their consultation, with a clear focus on investing in public transport and active travel, to encourage more people to leave their cars at home and use sustainable forms of transport.

      "I am particularly pleased that our ambitious active travel programme has been so clearly backed by Welsh Government, but to ensure that we can move our vision forwards with pace, we want to work with Welsh Government to closer align the Wales Transport Strategy with the council's White Paper to ensure that delivery programmes for major projects can be supported with long-term funding commitments.

     "With the loss of EU finding and the significant financial impact that COVID-19 has had on the city, it is essential that we get this right, so that sustainable travel becomes a viable and attractive option for residents and commuters."

The key responses to the Welsh Government on the Wales Transport Strategyare:

• Closer alignment between the projects set out in Cardiff's Transport White Paper with Welsh Government's Wales Transport Strategy
• The need to incorporate the relevant parts of the Welsh Government's COVID-19 Recovery programme, and funding into the Wales Transport Strategy
• The need to have financial grants for major projects based on at least a three-year funding package, rather than a one-year funding package as it is now
• The need for the council to retain the powers to produce, manage and govern our own Local Transport Plan - while working with the wider region on inter-regional transport routes.