Government “prioritising active travel over safety”, claims councillor – who says new bike lane was so wide “I thought it was a dual carriageway they were building!”

A DUP councillor has claimed that the Northern Ireland government is “prioritising active travel over safety”, after the Department for Infrastructure this week announced the launch of its new Active Travel Delivery Plan, which aims to deliver over 200km worth of “high quality” cycling and walking infrastructure during the next decade.

But while many cyclists in Northern Ireland – forced to navigate the country’s neglected, disconnected, and often shoddy cycling network – would argue that this shift to a concerted and focused active travel strategy has been a long time coming, former MLA and finance minister Mervyn Storey has questioned the budget set aside by the Department for Infrastructure for active travel, claiming that the number of cyclists on the road does not justify the money being spent.

Yesterday in Craigavon, Sinn Féin Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd launched a public consultation on Northern Ireland’s new Active Travel Delivery Plan. According to the DfI, the plan sets out how the devolved government at Stormont will “prioritise and deliver” over 200km of cycling, walking, and wheeling schemes, located within both urban and rural settlements, over the next decade.

The plan will focus on providing linked-up active travel connections to local schools, public transport, and town centres, which the department says “will offer the greatest potential to maximise benefits for people, the environment, and society”.

> Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure finally launches public consultation on Active Travel Delivery Plan – but Cycling UK says “plan needs to be backed by a real sense of urgency”

However, at a Q&A session with roads officials on Tuesday evening, following the DfI’s annual address to Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, DUP councillor Storey drew his colleagues’ attention to a new 500m cycle path recently installed in Coleraine.

In September, work commenced on the £800,000 active travel scheme on Coleraine’s A29 Ring Road, which featured the creation of a new 500m shared footway and cycle path, as part of what O’Dowd said was “an overall vision to provide a high-quality active travel link between Coleraine and Portstewart”, along with connections to the University of Ulster.

However, speaking at the meeting, Storey – a former finance and social development minister in the Stormont executive and prominent young earth creationist – criticised the width of the new cycleway, the Coleraine Chronicle reports.

“I can’t get my head around the width of it,” he said. “I thought it was a dual carriageway they were building!”

The DUP politician then questioned the proportion of the department’s budget that is spent on active travel schemes, comparing it unfavourably against the perceived lack of cyclists on the borough’s roads.

“I think what the Department does is prioritise active travel over safety,” he said.

Responding to Storey’s criticism, a DfI official said at the meeting: “We will always prioritise safety where we can, and sometimes by doing an active travel scheme we can also improve safety.”

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Of course, the concept of Northern Ireland’s devolved government prioritising active travel over anything is an alien one to many of the country’s cyclists, such is the chequered and underfunded nature of the infrastructure they are forced to deal with on a daily basis.

Campaign groups have long criticised the apparent inaction of the Department for Infrastructure when it comes to active travel, arguing that disjoined infrastructure, lack of enforcement against cycle lane car parking, and evidence that cycling is often an afterthought when it comes to big transport projects has left Northern Ireland lagging behind the rest of the UK.

In 2022, Cycling UK criticised O’Dowd for appearing to renege on a pre-election pledge to introduce an Active Travel Act, claiming the Sinn Féin minister was set to “lock us all into a fossil-fuelled dark age”.

And last year, Belfast City councillors pointed out that, despite the implementation of the Belfast Cycling Network Delivery Plan in 2021, only 2.8km of cycle lanes were installed in two years, a lack of delivery branded “incredibly frustrating” and “ridiculous”.

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It’s no surprise then that this week Cycling UK, while welcoming the DfI’s announcement of its long-term active travel plans, was cautious in its appraisal of the project, warning that “the real test will be in the delivery”.

“It’s reassuring to see the Department for Infrastructure finally develop a long-term plan for active travel delivery across Northern Ireland,” Andrew McClean, Cycling UK’s Northern Ireland lead, said in a statement.

“Crucially, the proposed plan highlights the importance of short journeys connecting people to schools, public transport and town centres – but the real test will be in the delivery.

“Northern Ireland lags far behind neighbouring nations when it comes to active travel, which is why this plan needs to be backed by a real sense of urgency. Only then can we open up cycling to more people and ensure everyone can benefit from this cleaner, more accessible, and healthier transport option.”

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Launching the long-awaited active travel plan in Craigavon yesterday, infrastructure minister O’Dowd said: “his plan showcases the Department’s ambitions for increasing active travel options in 42 settlements across the North, delivering a bold transformation for all of our communities.

“It will complement the existing Belfast Cycling Network Delivery Plan and the Strategic Plan for Greenways, providing our teams and local councils with a firm basis for the prioritisation and delivery of active travel over the next 10 years.

“Research has shown that over one third of our journeys are less than two miles long and two thirds are less than five miles. These shorter journeys offer an opportunity to choose a different mode of travel to the car and make small changes to our lifestyle, regardless of age or ability, by choosing to walk, wheel, or cycle.

“We want to create high quality and safe active travel infrastructure that will make a positive difference to your lives, so we need to understand how it could help you to choose active travel to make those shorter journeys, whether it be travelling to work or school, maybe to the local shops, to visit family and friends, or just for leisure and exercise.”

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He continued: “Active travel is also a key element of the Climate Change Act. It reduces our carbon footprint, improves air quality, we have less noise pollution, it reduces traffic congestion by decreasing the numbers of vehicles on our roads and it is also beneficial to our mental and physical wellbeing.

“I am fully committed to improving active travel opportunities and separate to these proposed schemes today I am pleased to announce that I have just commissioned the design of six signature Active Travel projects across the North and will be sharing the details on these in the coming weeks and months as they are developed.

“By launching this consultation today, I am calling on the public to have their say on the future development of infrastructure projects in their local area. It is important that our neighbourhoods, towns and villages are designed to meet the needs of those who live there.

“People are at the heart of this plan because active travel is for everyone. Your journey matters, and by making little changes, and thinking about how we could travel differently, we can all make a big difference.”