Local AM Nick Ramsay this week welcomed the announcement of £300,000 in infrastructure investment for Abergavenny.

Speaking in the Senedd during the business statement, the Conservative for Monmouth welcomed the announcement of ‘active travel’ projects, revealed by this newspaper last week.

The Welsh Government’s ‘Active travel project’ will funnel £300,000 for the third phase of the Abergavenny Town Centre scheme.

Abergavenny’s town centre will see huge investment to encourage locals to ‘travel actively’—which Welsh Government literature defines as ‘encouraging people to make more journeys by bicycle and foot.’

Some £300,000 will be invested in improving walk and cycleways, including more cycle parking, and benches, and more walking and cycle-friendly public spaces in Abergavenny.

“The Welsh Government has recently announced 66 active travel projects from the Wales infrastructure investment plan.

“I’ve just been looking through the projects now, the allocation for 2019-20, and I see that there are two projects in Monmouthshire: Abergavenny town centre active travel improvement phase 3—quite a mouthful—which is being funded to the tune of £300,000.

“It’s good to see that after years of talking about ‘active travel’ that we’re getting some development of actual projects on the ground.

“I wonder if the Minister could bring forward a statement to this Chamber as soon as possible so that we can discuss these issues more fully.”

 In response Rebecca Evans told Mr Ramsay,

“I’m grateful for your enthusiasm for the work that we’re undertaking now in terms of improving our active travel offer for people in Wales.

“I think it is a really exciting part of the journey that we’re on, in terms of active travel.

“We are starting to make some real progress in this area, and I know the Deputy Minister has heard your request for a statement, and I know he’s always enthusiastic to share the latest information about the projects that we’ve been able to support.”

The scheme states that ‘funding will improve and create active travel routes and facilities in Wales, as part of efforts to encourage more people to walk and cycle.’

These active travel projects will stretch from Abergavenny, to Ebbw Vale, Newport, and Cardiff, with the £14.5m in government money spread across those towns and cities.

Lee Waters, the deputy economy and transport minister has made previous calls for local authorities to ‘be radical and ambitious’ in their promotion of walking and cycling, and reiterated that after he made the announcement last week.

He has called for proposals to ‘go further’ in building the infrastructure to help people choose walking and cycling as the most ‘natural way’ to for shorter journeys.

The £14.5m investment is part of the second round of capital funding from the Wales Infrastructure Investment Plan (WIIP) this year. It brings the total grant funding the Welsh Government has allocated to active travel schemes in 2019/20 to more than £40million.