“In its manifesto, the incumbent party committed to the principle of 20-minute neighbourhoods and promoting active travel. The manifesto specifically cites that “[Local Authorities] Creating incentives to encourage the take-up of e-bikes and encourage the use of bike hire schemes, and [to] explore the potential for e-cargo bikes to replace vans and cut HGV traffic” is important for this. (Plaid Cymru 2022; Local Government Manifesto; pg. 24) Since being elected in 2022, how has the council furthered the aims of these commitments, particularly the one regarding e- bikes and bike hire schemes?”
Minutes:
The Chair informed the Cabinet that the questioner, Mr Conor MacDonald was unable to attend the meeting to ask his question. Accordingly, the Leader of the Council read the question on his behalf, as follows:
“In its manifesto, the incumbent party committed to the principle of 20-minute neighbourhoods and promoting active travel. The manifesto specifically cites that “[Local Authorities] Creating incentives to encourage the take-up of e-bikes and encourage the use of bike hire schemes, and [to] explore the potential for e-cargo bikes to replace vans and cut HGV traffic” is important for this. (Plaid Cymru 2022; Local Government Manifesto; pg. 24) Since being elected in 2022, how has the council furthered the aims of these commitments, particularly the one regarding e- bikes and bike hire schemes?”
Response by Councillor. Darren Price, Leader of the Council:-
“The text that is quoted in the question refers to the national manifesto that Plaid Cymru published prior to the Local Government elections last year. Clearly members and members of the public will be aware that, in Carmarthenshire Plaid Cymru developed its own local manifesto and that was the basis in which we engaged with residents prior to the election last year, so whilst there are some elements of the national manifesto which have been copied to the local manifesto, not all of the text has been, and this is one such example. Having said that, clearly as a Cabinet we set out our ambitions in terms of active travel across the county within our Cabinet vision statement last July, and there is clear reference to the need to develop this area within the corporate strategy and within the business plans that have been agreed by Council and which are in the process of being developed as we speak. Therefore, just to provide some context in terms of what we are doing in terms of this agenda:
· We have provided supporting infrastructure for Actif’s e-bike hire schemes currently being delivered by the Council’s Sports Development Team. The Actif Leisure colleagues are piloting the first ‘live’ hiring facility through the Actif app at Llandovery Leisure Centre during the eisteddfod week. If it runs well, it will be rolled out at Ammanford Carmarthen and Llanelli Leisure Centre sites. All sites now have charging stations and bikes, and we assisted by installing secure cycle storage at the four sites.
· We are also providing free of charge e-bike charging at eight locations across the county which will be further promoted in the following financial year once all signage is installed. This number is continuing to expand. Current locations include Pembrey Country Park, The Beacon, The Eastgate, Amman Valley Leisure Centre, Carmarthen Leisure Centre, Llandovery Leisure Centre, St Catherine's Walk, Y Caban in Pendine, and soon to be introducing a further location at Cwmamman Cycle Hub in Garnant.
· We have purchased twelve e-cargo bikes and are trialling their use through the Llanelli BID - we have been engaging with Town Centre groups and Regeneration colleagues in order to expand this roll out in 2023/24.
· As part of the Council’s commitment to promote active travel, bike hire stations have been installed at Carmarthen Bus Station, Burry Port interchange, and Llanelli Railway Station. People are able to reserve a bike online or by text and collect it from a dock from as little as £3.50 a day. The bikes, which are managed by Brompton Bike Hire, are foldable and can be taken on public transport. They currently house standard folding Brompton bikes but will be upgraded to house EBromptons in the future.
· Bike hire for community use will soon be available at leisure centres throughout the county, along with bike parking bays and electric bike charging points.
· We have also, as members will be aware, made progress in terms of the Tywi Llandeilo cycle path and we look forward to that opening in a few years’ time. We have similarly made bids for grant funding to both Welsh Government and UK Government in terms of further progressing the active travel agenda across the county. Members will be aware, of course, that we submitted a bid for an active travel between the Pentre Awel scheme and Llanelli town centre under the Levelling up round last summer. It was disappointing of course that that bid wasn’t supported by the UK Conservative Government. It was disappointing on a number of fronts of course, we had invested heavily as a Council, a lot of officer time had gone into that bid, and we were confident that the bid stacked up in terms of its objectives and financially; but of course we later found out that actually we had no hope of succeeding in that second round because of the fact that we had succeeded in the first round of levelling up funding with the Carmarthen HWB. So it was very disappointing as a Council that we found that out after the event, but of course we weren’t alone in that and there were a number of Local Authorities across Wales and the rest of the UK who found themselves in similar positions and I understand that legal challenge may be underway on that basis.
So we are doing a lot of work on this agenda. Clearly we can do more. One of the funding avenues open to us over the last few years was EU funding. Clearly as a result of us leaving the EU, there was a commitment given by the UK Conservative Government that Wales would not lose a penny of funding in terms of structural funds; clearly that hasn’t come to pass. The latest estimates independently verified is that Wales is going to lose £1bn of investment during the course of this structural fund round. And when we speak of these sums, sometimes they can seem remote and distanced. But in Carmarthenshire’s context, generally we tend to receive about 6% of any all-Wales funding so when you think of £1bn that is missing from the coffers, in Carmarthenshire that would have given us £60m extra had the UK Conservative government stuck to their promise and ensured parity as a continuation of the funding. £60m would go a very long way in Carmarthenshire to deliver improvements in terms of active travel and a whole host of other regeneration projects, but that’s where we are. I hope that provides some context as to where we are on this agenda”.