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World First as Welsh Government Commits to Cycling Bill

New Welsh Cycling Bill will make it a legal duty for local authorities to provide cycling routes.

Yesterday the Welsh Government made worldwide history by becoming the first Government to introduce a Cycling Bill to make it a legal duty for local authorities to provide cycle routes. 

The Bill has been announced as one of the Welsh Government's  priorities during the next five years, and is a result of four years of passionate campaigning by sustainable transport charity Sustrans. 

Sustrans Cymru Director Lee Waters said "There has long been a legal duty to build and maintain roads, but this is the first time that highways authorities will have had a legal obligation to create new walking and cycling routes. It has the potential to make Wales a World leader in sustainable transport.

"Hearing the Welsh Government commit to the Bill is an astounding achievement after years of hard work. Now we begin the important process of developing the detail."

A spokesperson for the Welsh Government said "Increasing access to cycling routes will make it easier for people to make healthier choices, improve people's health, ease pressure on the NHS in the long-term and have positive environmental benefits. In addition to the world-class mountain biking routes that Wales already boasts, it will also put Wales on the World map as a leading destination for cycling, which will bring the added benefits for tourism and business. "

"The forward legislative programme is being announced in July"

We'll be watching the progress of this Bill over the next five years with interest. Hopefully, this could pave the way for other countries to make a similar commitment to cycling. 

Lara has been riding bikes for longer than she'd care to admit, and writing about them nearly as long. Since 2009 she has been working as part of the road.cc review team whilst championing women's cycling on the side, most notably via two years as editor of the, sadly now defunct, UK's first and only women's cycling mag, erm, Women's Cycling. 

Believing fervently that cycling will save the world, she wishes that more people would just ride a bike and be pleasant to each other. 

She will ride anything with two wheels, occasionally likes to go fast, definitely likes to go far and is always up for a bit of exploring somewhere new and exciting. 

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6 comments

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slow-cyclo | 13 years ago
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Cynicism aside I prefer to see this as some sort of progress  4

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cat1commuter | 13 years ago
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This is probably useless unless quality is part of the requirement. And why "world first"? I think that is a meaningless claim, given that other countries have different structures of government and local government and who is responsible for the transport network.

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John_the_Monkey | 13 years ago
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Interesting.

"Routes" doesn't equal dedicated paths, necessarily, does it?

Anyone know what the Assembly's definition encompasses?

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PhilWalker | 13 years ago
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no-one will want to use them once they fill Wales with pylons, hubs and windfarms anyway.......

Another great triumph for WAG  102

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Shwa | 13 years ago
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Wow OldRigeback, I thought I was cynical! This seems like a very positive action to me.

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OldRidgeback | 13 years ago
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But will it hen become a requirement for cyclists to use them? As we know, some cycling facilities are not fit for purpose.

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