Residents asked to help shape the future of active travel in Cardiff
Residents, businesses and community groups are being invited to help shape future walking and cycling networks in Cardiff as the council prepares a legally required update to its active travel map.
The local authority will launch a 12-week public consultation from May to June 2026, giving locals the chance to comment on proposals for new and improved routes and suggest changes before the map is submitted to Welsh Ministers.
The consultation will include targeted engagement to ensure the views of different communities are properly represented.
The updated Active Travel Network Map brings together existing walking and cycling routes with proposals for future improvements, supporting the council’s aim of helping people make everyday journeys without relying on a private car.
Cardiff’s current map was approved by the Welsh Government in 2022, and an updated version must be submitted by December 2026.
The draft map has been updated to add new walking and cycling routes completed since 2021 that meet Welsh Government standards, revise future route plans to reflect what has already been built, and align proposals with current council policies.
Following new Welsh Government guidance, the updated map also places greater emphasis on improving and connecting existing routes rather than planning entirely new ones.
Routes shown on the map include those that have been independently assessed for safety and quality, as well as future routes ranging from short-term schemes planned within five years to longer-term aspirational routes over the next 10 to 15 years.
Finalised
Once finalised, future routes will be prioritised using a scoring system developed by Transport for Wales, which considers factors including access to schools, shops, public transport, health services, population density and areas of deprivation.
Councillor Dan De’Ath, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning, Transport and Climate Change, said: “The Council is committed to building a network for both cyclists and pedestrians, so that both walking and cycling becomes an attractive option to those who are able, instead of relying on travelling by car.
“The Active Travel Network Map supports the wider aims that we want to establish — to improve health and wellbeing, reduce congestion, cut air pollution further and make it easier for people to travel around Cardiff safely and sustainably.”
Review
Under the Active Travel (Wales) Act, councils across Wales are required to regularly review their active travel maps and demonstrate how they are improving routes for pedestrians, cyclists and people using wheelchairs or mobility aids.
Cardiff Council’s Cabinet will meet on 19 March to consider the recommendations, having first been scrutinised by the Environmental Committee on 12 March. Both meetings will be available to watch via webcast at cardiff.public-i.tv.
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Biggest problem with the cycle routes going in across Wales that I can see, certainly Bridgend, there are no safe storage facilities. So I drive where I could cycle for shopping etc. I use the routes for leisure, but never work or shopping.
A few metal hoops cemented in the pavement is no good for a bike when there are no police around to deal with people vandalising bikes. Why the MS’s doing this never thought of storage, I don’t know.
Yes everyone I talk to of all ages in Cardiff areas say the same. They’ve had a bike or three stolen and have given up leaving bikes anywhere, unless they have got it within their site. I don’t know what the answer is☹️
Look to the Dutch. It will take time.
https://dutchcycling.nl/expertises/cycling-infrastructure/
Maybe 100. years ?
The answer is dry and safe storage for bikes. Other European nations have been doing this for decades; why not make use of empty shops in town?
Yep. Pretty much every major Dutch railway station has secure bike parking, it’s like a mini NCP with ramps and everything.
Empty shops is a good way of doing it on the cheap. CCTV, keycard access like at the gym, one way in and out. Not perfect, but better than what we have now.
Did you know Drakeford borrowed a bike when having a shoot about bike lanes some years ago.
Cardiff is trialling secure on street bike storage: https://www.spokesafe.com/cardiff
These guys are also offering an alternative: https://www.thebikelock.co.uk
That is good but it should be in at the start. Costed in and built, monitored and safe for people to access.
TfW ran a public consultation semi-recently on proper public cycle storage, so it is something that is being pushed for, at least by some small part of the powers that be
The Active Travel obsessions has gone on for 10 years or so costing millions . Their own statistics show that walking and cycling increased during lockdown, but has been almost static at about 6% of the population over that time. There are very few places to securely lock your bikes anywhere in Wales , and so many are stolen daily and sold on without recovery. People are reluctant to use public transport due to cost , cancellation and cancellations. The Welsh Government appears to follow the ” Do as I say and not do as I do” . How many… Read more »
You seriously believe 94% never walks anywhere?
Stats I found puts active travel closer to 60% in Wales. Because most people walk to get somewhere at least once a week.
We need to remind everyone that the vast majority of the population are fit and healthy enough to walk 1 mile in 20 minutes or cycle 3 miles in 20 minutes. Doing a walk or cycle to the shops or to a train station that’s within that distance even once a week massively reduces your chance of getting all sorts of preventable health issues. This would save the NHS far more money than we would ever need to spend on those bike lanes that every populist politician seems to hate on all the time. And it’s peanuts anyway. In England,… Read more »