Cycling UK at the Stormont Infrastructure Committee

Our invitation came in the context of the recent Northern Ireland Audit Office report on active travel and the anticipated publication of the Northern Ireland Active Travel Delivery Plan. But the issues we raised go much deeper than these recent developments.

Lacking infrastructure delivery for walking and cycling

Northern Ireland is now more than a decade on from the Bicycle Strategy, four years on from the Belfast Cycle Network Delivery Plan, and four years on from the Climate Act, which was intended to drive a step change in active travel investment.

Yet none of these has resulted in the delivery of infrastructure at the scale needed to increase everyday walking and cycling. This lack of delivery – and the reasons behind it – was the central message we wanted to share with MLAs.

As Duncan said in our opening statement:

We’d prefer to be here complimenting DfI on the delivery of a strategy the goals of which we massively support. I really hope the next time somebody from Cycling UK is before the committee we can do that

The reality, however, is that cycling still accounts for just 1% of journeys in Northern Ireland.

We outlined three main reasons for the lack of progress.

1.    A failure to prioritise and deliver key schemes

With the Northern Ireland-wide Active Travel Delivery Plan yet to be published, the best indicator of current performance is the Belfast Cycle Network Delivery Plan (2021).

Phase 1 set ambitious targets for completion by 2025. We pointed out that by the department’s own timetable, “we should have had 34 130km of cycle paths delivered as part of the plan”.

In reality, just 4km has been delivered.

While a number of smaller schemes have gone ahead, these have tended to be those that were easiest to build, rather than those with the greatest potential to create connected networks and attract new users.

Given this record, we questioned whether proposals to deliver networks across 42 towns and cities over the next decade are realistic — particularly when the actual annual active travel budget for the whole of Northern Ireland is comparable to that of Cork county, which has a quarter of the population and a much smaller geographic area.

As Duncan told the committee:

If you’ve only got the money to build two swimming pools, you don’t build a little bit of one in lots of different towns

2.    A self-defeating approach to reporting spend

We also highlighted concerns raised by the Audit Office about the way active travel investment is being presented.

The headline figure has risen from around £12 million to over £50 million, largely through the reclassification of existing expenditure rather than significant new investment. The Audit Office warned this could be seen as “window dressing” and may ultimately be self-defeating.

If the public and politicians are told that spending has quadrupled but see little change on the ground, it risks undermining trust and weakening support for further investment.

3.    Weak transparency, accountability and engagement

Finally, we echoed the Audit Office’s finding that stakeholder confidence has been damaged by delivery failures.

A formal stakeholder engagement forum was first promised three years ago, but has yet to be established. As Duncan told the committee, there is now “a desperate need” for meaningful engagement.

Taking three years to set up a regular meeting with willing partners is simply not acceptable. We believe this lack of structured engagement has contributed to many of the shortcomings in strategy, decision making and delivery.

Looking to the future

Cycling UK remains hopeful that improved outcomes are possible and we’re committed to working constructively with the Department for Infrastructure and with Assembly Members to achieve them.

We want the next time we appear before the committee to be different – to be talking about delivery, progress and success.

But achieving that will require a clear shift in approach: prioritisation, transparency, meaningful engagement, and above all, delivery at scale.