 Thank you. That concludes topical questions. The next item of business is a debate on motion 9-3-2-8 in the name of Patrick Harvie on active travel transformation. I'll allow a moment or two for Benches to reorganise. If you wish to speak in the debate, we're to press their request to speak button now. I call on Patrick Harvie to speak to and move the motion up to 15 minutes, minister. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I'm delighted to do so. I'm all gan opening this debate at what feels like a bit of a critical moment for active travel in Scotland. As you know, walking and cycling are always my preferred ways of getting about. I know, first-hand, the many benefits of active travel. However, I also see every day places in my own community and across Scotland where it needs to be made easier and safer. In this role as a minister for active travel, it's been a genuine privilege to be able wrth gwneud i'w ddweud i'r bynnag y b bodai wedi'i unrhyw gweithio i'n iawn, i ffwrdd y cyllidau i gael ar y bai uchydig cyflawni, i ddweud i'rquality塗 a ein gwell, i ddweud i'r cardboardain i gael i'r bynnag. Felly mae'n fydd ymddiweddau i'n ei fod yn hybwyllt, i'r ddefnyddio i'r mhwynd i'r gweithio i'r bynnag, i ddweud i'r cost i'r holl, ac mae'n lleallion i gael oes oedd y baleig yn hyn ac i ddweud o'r bynnag. I found this role incredibly fulfilling, and I want to take time to acknowledge some of the progress that we've made so far in this session of Parliament. I've spoken before about the experience during lockdown, how in the midst of otherwise dire circumstances, many people discovered their own neighbourhoods anew through walking, wheeling and cycling. But hanging on to that benefit in the longer term was never going to happen by magic. It requires investment to transform our built environment to support active travel. So we've committed record levels of funding with just under £190 million in our budget for active travel in this financial year, well on our way to £320 million by the year 24-25. We've helped to deliver flagship projects like the Bridges in Stockingfields and Sightheld in Glasgow, which bring communities closer together with connections and opportunities. Less headline grabbing, but no less important, we've also been improving what we've already got, like providing £14 million to extend and improve the national cycle network. Removal of over 200 barriers over the year has helped to make the network's routes more accessible for everyone choosing to walk, wheel or cycle along them. Those small measures can have a big impact for people who use the network, making everyday trips safer and more convenient. In a different part of the minister's portfolio he's quantified the cost of doing what we want to in heat and buildings is £33 billion. What does he quantify the cost of doing all that we want to do in the active travel space? The cost that we've committed to is £320 million, or at least 10 per cent, of the transport budget by the year 2024-25. Over the longer term, I think that the sky is the limit in terms of the transformation that we could make in communities right across Scotland. As we take that work forward, inclusion needs to be at the heart of our active travel policy, not just creating better infrastructure, but working to close the mobility gap and meet the diverse needs of a diverse community. One example is the work of our delivery partners Cycling UK. They've formed a partnership with Spinal Injury Scotland to develop a fleet of accessible and adaptable e-bikes that let people with spinal injuries and other mobility issues participate in cycling every day. On journeys that many cyclists would take for granted, just going to the shops, commuting to work or attending an appointment. We should not accept that accessibility issues mean that someone can't make an active travel journey. In contrast with the priorities that held for so many decades, walking, wheeling and cycling are at the top of our sustainable travel hierarchy. That, in turn, informs our priorities for investment and policy decisions. I am again funding the Ian Finlay Pass Fund this year, named after the former chief officer for Pass For All, who tragically passed away in 2021. The fund supports small local projects to make improvements to existing walking infrastructure and make connections where there are gaps in local path networks. I am pleased to be able to announce today the launch of the £1.5 million active nation fund. The fund will make grants of up to £200,000 available to a range of public, third and community sector organisations looking to scale up successful behaviour change interventions, enabling people to drive less and to walk, wheel or cycle as part of their everyday short journeys. That is only a narrow sample of the wide range of activity across Scotland that is already happening. A lot of that work is still in the pipeline and I can't wait to join with thousands of other people in seeing the benefits. There are already positive outcomes from that rising investment. To take just one example, a scheme funded through our places for everyone programme, Garsgud Broad in the north-west of Glasgow, resulted in a 300 per cent increase in the number of cyclists using the road. Demonstrating the demand that there is for safe spaces and connected routes. Just last week, research funded by the Scottish Government showed that the levels for children walking, wheeling and cycling to their schools are now higher than pre-pandemic levels, with almost 50 per cent of pupils getting to school actively. I thank the minister for taking the intervention. I'm interested in any mentioned schools. He'll be aware that, often at primary school, kids do cycle to school, but that tails off when they get to secondary school. What is he noticing now? Is that changing? I think we have a huge amount to do, not just in terms of infrastructure so that those routes are safe, but so that those young people have access to a bike, access to a different bike as their needs change as they grow and access to the skills that they need to maintain them as well. There's a huge amount that we need to do. We are still in the early days of becoming an active travel nation and even the most ambitious projects that we begin today can take a few years to bear fruit. I'm determined to see our commitments and record funding translate into real changes on the ground. In leading European cities such as Utrecht and Copenhagen, those sort of projects are commonplace and every day they're almost unremarked upon. They're just business as usual, but they didn't happen overnight. They took decades of persistent commitment across political and funding cycles and they took an appreciation that increasing active travel also isn't just about what we do with that. It's just about what we do with active travel policy itself. Just as much importance lies in how we manage wider transport policies or work on 20-mile-an-hour speed limits and traffic reduction targets in just a moment, as well as economic development policy, how we plan, build and use our places, so the role of our new NPF4 and the commitment to 28-minute neighbourhoods. That kind of sustained and integrated approach is becoming commonplace in other European cities too, places that some people might not typically associate with active travel like Paris, Barcelona and Ghent. We can see our European neighbours transforming and reimagining their cities and that's what we want to do here as well. Brian Whittle. I know that he recognises that I also have an enthusiasm for giving people the opportunity to be active for active travel, but would he recognise that in the cities that he's discussing, they already had a significant active travel infrastructure that we don't have and we are starting from a lower bar and we must put more investment into delivering that active travel network before we can get people to deliver on that? That's precisely why we are delivering record investment in this area, but I would make again the case that places like Paris and Barcelona perhaps didn't have that strong track record coming from that higher starting point that he's talking about in the way that perhaps Amsterdam or Copenhagen have been doing for longer. But where cities have achieved this change, they don't only get a health and environmental benefit. They find that once their communities become safer and more pleasant places to spend time in, they thrive and that's my ambition too, so that great environments for walking, wheeling and cycling become a default expectation. The choice to use active travel has to be safe and easy in our rural areas and smaller towns and villages just as it should be in our cities, so there is still much more for us to do. That's why I published the new cycling framework for active travel in April this year. It supports our 2030 active travel vision, where walking, wheeling and cycling are the most popular modes of transport for shorter everyday journeys. It'll shape how government councils and active travel organisations work together to deliver ambitious improvements and help remove barriers to cycling across the country. The ambition shown by this government in committing to the highest level of capital funding for active travel anywhere in the UK and by far the highest amount in our history means that we are starting to deliver. That's why I'm very pleased today to announce an additional £20 million of active travel infrastructure funding going direct to local authorities, regional transport partnerships and national park authorities. This is the new active travel transformation fund. It's been developed over the last few months in partnership with local authorities and other partners as a step toward reinvigorating our delivery models for next year and beyond. This morning, I visited the south side of Glasgow and heard from City Council colleagues about how this fund has enabled the delivery of a project that will extend the already impressive south city way connecting to the new Victoria hospital and a nearby housing development of 400 homes. This is a £2.5 million scheme that will improve local public spaces, prioritise people over vehicles and improve connectivity throughout the area. If it's brief, I need to make some progress. I should say also at this point that we do have time in hand, Liam Kerr. Very briefly minister, those funds that have just been given, will they be ring-fenced to councils or will they be open for councils to use as they please? The active travel transformation fund is available for councils to bid to bring forward their projects and that money will be spent on delivering those projects. The fund will deliver those projects right across Scotland. For example, the £1.6 million to deliver the phase 2 of the Alva Academy link in Clackmanager, that's not only going to improve active travel for local children, it will also provide links to key employment centres that support around 1,000 workers. It will help to address transport poverty. The fund will also enable safe travel within rural communities. In Habos and the Isle of Lewis, it will provide £175,000 to connect the village with their local school. We have been clear in our desire to develop the fund through a partnership approach, both directly with delivery bodies and also through COSLA. I want to say how grateful I am for the constructive work of our partners, helping to ensure that the fund meets local needs wherever possible. I give way to Sarah Boyack. I thank the minister for letting me make an intervention. Is this a one-off pot of money or is this now going to be year on year funding built in so local authorities can use it going forward every single year? The development of this project is designed to be in line with the transformation project, the wider transformation of the delivery of active travel. We know that we need to change those delivery models if we're going to have a way of delivering active travel that's on the scale and at the level of ambition that the budgets to come. Because of that, we've launched the transformation fund in this year to trial that model of giving this money directly to local authorities. Because of the way that we've developed it in this first year, we've removed match funding requirements from the fund because we know that can make delivery difficult, particularly for smaller delivery partners. We've got this great first group of projects in this year that have been funded, but beyond that, the process of doing this has identified a pipeline of projects worth nearly £700 million across Scotland. We want to commend the genuine ambition that's been demonstrated by everyone who's developed these. That pipeline of projects stand us in great stead. It means that we've got an exciting portfolio of projects that are ready to go, matching the scale of our budget commitments. Because of the real work of this fund is about turning ambition into delivery, I don't just want to see strategies, I want to see cycle ways. I want to see these pipeline projects turned into the fantastic environments for walking, wheeling and cycling that Scotland needs. The projects that are included in today's funding announcement around the country will help to do that, but it is just the beginning. The fund will deliver a diverse range of active travel infrastructure, including in urban and rural locations, and by providing more safe, segregated infrastructure, these projects will help to remove one of the key barriers to greater modal shift toward active travel. Obviously, I couldn't lead a debate on walking, wheeling and cycling today without reflecting on a huge event that's happening this summer, and Scotland's unique position as the first-ever country to host the UCI Cycling World Championships. You'll be relieved, and I'm sure that members will be as well, to know that I'm not the kind of person you'll ever see in a light-rath skin suit huddling around a velodrome. I'm much more likely to be found going sedately along Salkiol Street dressed pretty much as I am today. That difference captures a challenge and an opportunity from the championship. The presence of world-class athletes from 13 disciplines and something like a million spectators converging on the country for two weeks will be a sporting spectacle, but I don't want it to leave a sense that active travel means only cycling or that cycling means only elite athletes using expensive specialist bikes. Our task is to create a legacy that's about active travel as a way of going to work, to school, to the shops. It's also noticeable, I think, over the decades that many of the countries with cycling superstars are also those with much more significant levels of everyday active travel. We don't have to look far afield here in the UK. We've seen people like Chris Boardman, former Olympic gold medalist and Tour de France yellow jersey holder, now working as the national active travel commissioner with active travel England. Of course, here in Scotland we've got our own incredibly successful form of professional cyclist in Lee Craigie, our ambassador for active travel. Lee is due to complete her term in that role in September, and I want to express my gratitude for the contribution that she's made to our national conversation on active travel. Lee has been passionate, considerate and thoughtful in her role. Most importantly, she has provided consistent, robust challenge to government as well. I'm sure that she's looking forward to supporting Scottish cycling ahead of the UCI world championships over the summer and continuing to show that cycling is for everyone. Whether you are training for the world championships, cycling to school or work every day or just heading out for a little bit of exercise every once in a while, you deserve to be able to do that in confidence and in safety. It saddens me when I hear people tell me that they would love to cycle more, that they love their children to walk or scoot to school, but they fear for their safety. And yet again this week we have seen tragic reports of deaths and injuries on our roads. Far too many people have lost friends and family members who were simply walking, wheeling and cycling to get around. One death, one serious injury on our roads is one too many. So I would say again, as a nation, we've still got a great deal more to do here. We can, must and will do better. We are putting in place the right building blocks. At record level of investment of nearly £190 million this year, the even higher commitment of £320 million next year, the new active travel transformation fund of £20 million that I've announced today, the commitment to make sure that we get results not just from how we do active travel policy but transport as a whole, as well as planning, economic development, procurement and more. And the recognition that we get the best results when we work together, national government, local government, regional transport partnerships, the third sector and above all the communities giving leadership and bringing forward their ideas for change. So as the Scottish Government, we'll continue to make that sustained investment, working together to achieve an active travel transformation for Scotland. I move the motion in my name. Thank you. I now call on Graham Simpson to speak to in move amendment 9328.2. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Can I start by saying how shocked I was to hear about the resignation of Kevin Stewart as transport minister and his reasons for stepping down? And I can only wish him the very best in his recovery because I've always got on with Kevin in whatever ministerial role he performs. And I'd also say that I agree with pretty much everything that Patrick Harvey has just said and that might surprise him. I do hope that everyone take it. I think Douglas Russell there now thought he's about to sack me for saying that. I do hope that everyone taking part in the debate today was able to do some active travelling over what was a glorious weekend. I certainly got on my bike and I know that Mr Harvey might wish me to do that with a degree of permanence, but it was good. Now, can I say that Brian Whittle, my good friend Brian Whittle and I recently cycled out from East Kilbride towards Straven on a cycle route which uses country roads and we didn't get to Straven because we came across a farm which had diversified into open an outdoor cafe and that was good. That was good enough for us and the many locals that were using it. Now I've cycled that route many times and I have to say that the roads and it is all on road are in an appalling state and are dangerous to cyclists in parts. Given that many cyclists have to go on the road, we need to concentrate on making them fit for purpose. Now, Mr Whittle and myself enjoyed a few hours of old codger chat and we will do so again soon, I hope. We are not, you'll be pleased to hear, Presiding Officer, middle-aged men in Lycra, just like the Minister. My own approach is that you don't have to wear special clothing to jump on a bike. I have taken to wearing a helmet most of the time, that came about for me during lockdown when I was cycling a lot more than I had been and I felt a couple of things. One, as I said earlier, the roads were dreadful and that considered there was a real risk that I could be thrown off my bike. The roads are worse now so the risk is greater. Secondly, if I got a bright helmet it would help me to be seen by motorists, many of who, let's face it, have little regard for cyclists. There are too many people who don't feel safe on a bike and that has to change. We need to make the infrastructure better and we need to take people with us on that mission. The segregated routes are very important. The minister mentioned Barcelona earlier and I've cycled in Barcelona and he's right to say that they didn't start off from a good point but they have put in segregated routes and it's perhaps a good example of how things can be done. Here in Edinburgh there are some fantastic off-road routes. The city is spoiled in many ways. It's investing heavily in more routes too but the council has too often been heavy handed in its approach and lacking in common sense. I don't want to get too parochial about this but I recently cycled across the foot of Leith Walk where the tramway has been built and I just thought what the heck is going on and I'm not alone it has conflict written all over it. I can see the minister agreeing with me there. All of us in this chamber back greater investment in active travel, be it cycling, walking or wheeling. We went into the last Scottish Parliament elections calling for 10% of the transport budget to be spent on active travel and thankfully that is now the Government's position. Right now a number of third sector organisations are worried about their funding and there's a fear of redundancy. Sustrans were recently quoted as saying with less Scottish Government funding we are left with no choice but to make cuts which will reduce our impact on changing the way people travel every day. As a result 21 of our Sustrans colleagues in Scotland are now at risk of redundancy and there will be an end or reduction to programmes right across Scotland. Some organisations have worked for months without funding and that's not good enough if we are to maintain any sort of momentum. I'm grateful. The member, like those across the chamber, was aware of the additional pressures that come from the current financial situation including inflation and its impact on the Scottish budget, the need to ensure scrutiny in there. One of the reasons for increased scrutiny in active travel is the increased level of budget. As something comes up the scale of spend it requires additional scrutiny across the Scottish Government's budget. I'm very grateful for the active travel partners understanding of the additional pressures that that brings to bear and the extra work that they've done to provide the information that allows us to clear a huge amount of the spending that we've already committed to. They know that this Government is fully committed to a hugely increased budget unlike those elsewhere in the UK. I want to talk about Scotland and the fact is that there are organisations out there who do not have a level of certainty over their funding and when people like Sustrans are having to potentially make people redundant that sends out a very negative message. In March last year we debated active travel and I wished Mr Harvey all the best at that time in his new role and I offered to work together on this policy area in which we agree on so much that hasn't happened but I make the offer again. I'd be happy to have regular meetings with Mr Harvey so I look forward to his office getting in touch to set that up. One issue I've mentioned before in fact during that previous debate is the lack of resources within councils and that's hampering progress. That's something I mentioned in my amendment which I now move Presiding Officer. Some councils don't have the expertise anymore, they may not have the people to run road safety courses, it could be anything. There's a great project which has been talked about when I was a councillor in South Lanarkshire and which has been stalled apparently because of resources. The Westburn Viaduct crosses the Clyde trains stopped using it in the 1980s and it's been closed ever since but there's a plan in place to open it up and create a walking and cycling route over the river which would be fantastic. My understanding is that Sustrans are geared up to go ahead but there's no agreement on which council Glasgow or South Lanarkshire or either side of the river would maintain the new path. This challenge of adoption of infrastructure for maintenance is a significant barrier to delivery. Maybe the minister can assist in breaking that deadlock in the Westburn case but it could genuinely be a transformational project. I have to say that I do think that there should be a dedicated fund. Fiona Hyslop. I might define the number 2, the Bathgate Airdrie line, where the old railway line was converted into a very accessible, well-used cycle track. Obviously, Westwood and Lanarkshire councils managed to work together collectively so perhaps that could be an example to site locally. Graham Simpson. That's a very good example. I'm very familiar with the route having cycled it and look forward to cycling with Ms Hyslop at one of her local projects which she's invited me to. Hopefully we can do that over the summer. That would be fantastic. I've referred many times to the Government's well-meaning target of reducing car miles by a fifth by 2030. That's a mere seven years away. So far the Government has said nothing about how this will be achieved but we do know that the pace of delivery of those impressive active travel targets needs to be stepped up. The cross-party group on sustainable transport, which I convene, produced a report on this in November and we had five recommendations which I'll just run through. First was provide clarity around policies, expected impacts and timescales for implementation. Second, pursue policies that target unnecessary car journeys. Third, consider the equalities impacts of traffic reduction policies. Fourth, ensure greater affordability of public transport services and finally include van traffic as part of the traffic reduction target. We should consider the impact of freight on traffic volumes and emissions from road traffic. It must be ensured that reduction in emissions from cars is not cancelled out by an increase of emissions from delivery vans. So far I've not seen any progress in meeting these recommendations. Nothing the Minister has said today has convinced me that we have any hope of persuading more people to use public transport and if anything the little progress has been in active travel is going backwards. Presiding Officer, you know active travel is good for the nation. Walking for 30 minutes or cycling for 20 minutes on most days reduces mortality risk by at least 10%. Active commuting is associated with an approximate 10% decrease in risk for cardiovascular disease and a 30% decrease in type 2 diabetes risk. Cancer-related mortality is 30% lower among bike commuters. It's also a fact that a large number of people don't have cars so we should be making life easier for them and encouraging those that do to use them less often. My amendment does not seek to wipe out the Minister's motion. It keeps most of it and merely says that the Government should set out some of its plans. That's not too much to ask if we all want to improve active travel. I urge the chamber to back the amendment and hopefully we can all move in the same direction. In opening today's debate for Labour, let me start by somewhat belatedly welcoming the Minister to his role. In his own words it's no secret that he enjoys cycling and his personal engagement on the subject of active travel stretches back to well before he took on this portfolio. I hope that from his appointment we'll see enthusiastic prioritisation of active travel infrastructure in Scotland and that we'll see progress through cross-party work on this shared goal. Because we in Labour believe that active travel can bring significant benefits for our health, our economy and our environment. But none of these benefits will be achieved without significant investment, planning and promotion. While we welcome the Scottish Government's funding commitments and progress on the new cycling framework, we must also be honest about where the Government is letting us down. Council budgets have been slashed, road repairs are waiting, planning delayed, pavement parking widespread, speeding rampant, congestion is building and air pollution is choking us. So why does active travel matter? Active travel isn't just about leisure, it's about making it easier to get from A to B off our own steam. Not just because it will improve our health but because it will improve our environment and save us money. We can find a way to make this one switch, the benefits will be transformational so its importance cannot be overstated. I'd like to make some progress. We know from research that active travel is associated with lower likelihoods of having diabetes and hypertension. Research demonstrates positive mental health benefits from active travel. One study based in London found that walking to work is significantly associated with higher life satisfaction compared to commuting by car. In fact, commuters who maintained cycling to work for a one-year period reported lower sickness absences and improved mental health than commuters who travelled by non-active means. It's not only our health that improves through active travel, it's the health of our environment. Changes in active travel have significant life cycle carbon emissions benefits. Research found that an average person exchanging one car journey per day for cycling for four days per week would decrease mobility-related life cycle CO2 emissions by about half a tonne per year. That's roughly as much CO2 as would be captured by 25 trees in a year. So imagine if we all made that switch. We would be quite literally a forest of millions and with fewer cars on the roads will rid our environment of the relentless drone of traffic and quicken our nature recovery. We saw this during the pandemic. At first we noticed the quiet. But then we heard the birds and other wildlife as they reclaimed the outdoors. But as much as we know we ought to take better care of our health and our environment, it's hard to begin to think about this when the immediate reality is financial hardship, of low pay, of high prices, of increasing demands on our time. It's not just that public transport is too expensive. It's that it's too often impractical. When you're on a zero hours contract, who has time to plan a journey with multiple changes? When you're working in healthcare or hospitality, who can be sure that they will finish work before the last bus to get home? And when you're in insecure housing, forced to move every six months, who has the time to book three months in advance to find the cheapest deals? And when you're juggling childcare and caring responsibilities, whose plans won't change at short notice? So it's no wonder that so many of us still opt for the reliability and convenience of a private vehicle. And once we're reliant on private vehicles, where would a walk or cycle fit in other than on a rare day off? And let's remember access to and experience of active travel is impacted by our gender, our ethnicity and whether we have a disability. We know that a lack of lighting in public parks and some streets means that women are less likely to walk or cycle after dark. We know that uneven paths and pavement parking can make it harder for people with disabilities to get around. And we know that people who are from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds are disproportionately impacted by air pollution as they are more likely to live in areas of environmental deprivation. So our encouragement of active travel must be inclusive while seeking to redress social as well as economic inequalities. Because the truth is, the current choice between a private vehicle or active travel combined with public transport is not a fair one. What we're experiencing is a problem with our whole transport network, with the planning system and with our political culture. That is that when government retreats, private commerce fills the void. And so rather than build what many need, they build what a few can profit from. And who does profit from us being in this impossible situation? The oil companies, the multinationals, the private developers, the list goes on. And who pays? Our pockets, our families' health, our neighbours' businesses and our polluted environment. So the Scottish Government's commitment to increasing active travel spending to 10% of the overall transport budget is welcome. Labour made the same call in our own manifesto, but we cannot stop there. We have to account for the reality that economic and social inequality is created by implementing a gendered and diversity approach to transport infrastructure that ensures safety, convenience and affordability are properly addressed. Particularly for protected characteristics including women, lame people and those with disabilities. And we must end the cuts to local authorities and invest in insourcing to treat active travel like the vital public service that it is with well-paid, unionised public sector workers at the heart of it. A recent study also showed that mothers participating in active travel led to more active children and young people which contributes to long-term habits that are good not just for themselves but for our planet. These are benefits that will build up over time, reducing strain on our health, our health service and our roads if we take that opportunity to invest now. That's why it's disappointing that in February we heard that only 3,650 bikes had been given out to school children so far. That's significantly below the 145,000 families that should be eligible for them. So alongside infrastructure investment we must also ensure that this has the greatest impact by following up with support and promotion to encourage behaviour change. Active travel policy must be more than just encouraging people to walk, wheel and cycle at the weekends. It must fit within an integrated, publicly owned transport system so that it becomes the best choice for commuters. It must be rolled out alongside reductions in speed limits around our education centre so that every child and young person has a safe and healthy journey to school, to college and to university. It must enhance our natural environment so that every journey comes with the benefit of wildlife and natural beauty. Greater participation in active travel is the culture change that we need, not just to protect what we have and to combat climate change but to make all of our lives a little more joyful as we travel and work alongside each other. I move the amendment in my name. Thank you very much. I now call Beatrice Wishart for around six minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I echo what other members have said about the sudden resignation of the Transport Minister and I sent him my good wishes for a speedy recovery? The UCI Cycling World Championships coming to Scotland in August 2023 is a chance to showcase Scotland and the UK once again to the world. That will bring a great tourism boost to Glasgow and surrounding areas in which the sector will no doubt welcome after the Covid-19 disruption. I am sure that it will inspire people to dust down their bikes and get back on the saddle, although I cannot guarantee I may be one of them. For young Scots, I hope that it will spark enjoyment and intrigue developing an enduring pastime. Whether a quick trip to the shops, to work or a leisurely cycle in nature, we know the health benefits such a trip can make. Presiding Officer, for many of us using our car is the simple default and easy means to travel. Roads take us where we want to go. We are sheltered from the weather. We don't have to think about exerting ourselves to overcome a hill and we are on our own timetable. That simplicity is the challenge. Walking, wheeling and cycling must compete with. Addressing the things a car driver doesn't have to think twice about will go some way to getting more people walking, wheeling and cycling. Progress on ambitions are at an early stage. I note that it will be in the next financial year that the Scottish Government fulfills the Bute House agreement for 10 per cent of the transport budget to be spent on active travel three years into this session of Parliament. It's not simply money that will help to reach those ambitions. Societal and behaviour changes are needed. I think that we can all recognise the benefits of active travel from saving money, to health improvement, to helping the planet. We are not all switching our cars for bikes on short journeys. Transport Scotland figures show a previous high of 1.8 per cent of journeys under five miles being taken by bike last achieved in 2018, only modestly climbing to 2.8 per cent in 2021. That said, I note the change in methodology for the pandemic-affected years. Safety looms large as a concern. Research from Cycling Scotland shows that two thirds would be more likely to consider cycling if there was less traffic on the roads. While changes in cycle lane configuration will address some of those concerns, there are more structural matters behind the scenes. Cycling Scotland's research also highlighted the stubborn gender gap with almost 80 per cent of women saying that they would be more likely to cycle if there was less traffic on the road, compared to just over 60 per cent of men saying the same. Men also state that they were more confident cycling compared to responses from women. That speaks for the need for gender-sensitive planning more widely. Those from minority communities are also underrepresented on the saddle. I note the work of Sustrans, Community Active Travel Support Service, to address that. Our active travel infrastructure needs to be accessible across the board for everyone to feel they can use and enjoy. Even during Covid-19 restrictions and policies such as spaces for people, cycling did not seem to become that much more attractive to people. We will have to see how those figures stack up in the future with Covid-19 restrictions fully lifted. To reflect further on Transport Scotland figures, 2020 and 2021 show an increase in walking, with almost 60 per cent of journeys under two miles by walking in 2020, and that sat at almost 48 per cent in 2019. Again, figures will need to be assessed within the context of the full lifting of the pandemic restrictions as there was a slight fall to 56 per cent in 2021. Work building new paths, connecting old paths and re-evaluating urban spaces can boost active travel. I note the ambition for 20-minute neighbourhoods to encourage uptaking and walking, wheeling and cycling. A lot of that does not apply to rural and island Scotland, where a car is a luxury, it is a necessity. For island and rural areas, there will always need to be alternatives to active travel to cross the greater distances and geographical challenges. For some, accessibility needs are only met by car, but that does not mean that we cannot make improvements. We must do what we can to make car travel sustainable with advances in electric vehicles and charging points, as well as investing in our public transport. To conclude, the Scottish Government is moving in the right direction with investment and strategy development, and we will continue to scrutinise this work that is still in its infancy. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Thank you very much, Ms Wishart. We now move to the open debate. I confirm that we still have quite a bit of time in hand, so anybody who is taking intervention will get the time back and possibly a bonus over and above that. I call First Lady Christine Grahame to be followed by Brian Whittle for a generous six minutes. Deputy Presiding Officer, I must know what the bonus is first. I mean, I have to have noticed what the bonus will be anyway. Pleas to support the Government motion, I welcome the additional £20 million funding, and we begin by saying, as others have said, that one of the unexpected and rare bonuses of Covid and its restrictions were the empty roads and streets, which made walking, but in particular, cycling safer and indeed more enjoyable. Indeed, as a consequence in the capital, endless city streets have many designated cycle lanes which must give a degree of comfort to cyclists and indeed to motorists. Though I would say in passing that some cyclists riding through Holywood Park do not use these, but insist on using the road. I don't know why. Some also do not wear reflective clothing and may have a bright front light, but simply rely on the rear reflector light on their bike to alert motorists. That is all we can see. I cannot fathom that either. Back to roads. Cycle lanes are of course not available, nor would they be practical in the main arterial roads in my constituency. The A68, A7, A701, A702 and A703 are tricky to drive, let alone cycle. Of course, there is the hazard of the Sheriff's Hall roundabout known to cyclists as the meat grinder where the A7 meets the city bypass. I have never seen a cyclist trying to tackle the Sheriff's Hall roundabout. Local and short distances are being tackled and I will start with the Board of Schools getting children into the habit and to have confidence in cycling. There we have the example of living streets. We had a visit to Stow primary in February with its WOW or Walk to School challenge. This is a pupil-led initiative where children self-report how they get to school every day using the interactive WOW travel tracker. Pupils who travel actively at least once a week for a month are rewarded with a WOW badge. WOW schools see on average a 5-10 per cent increase in pupils walking to school in Scotland with a corresponding drop in car use helping to reduce congestion and increase safety outside the school gates. Indeed, Scottish Borders Council rewarded 1.2 million spaces for people funding from the Scottish Government, which included spend on measures such as 20-mile-an-hour speed limits in every town and village to make the roads safer for walkers and cyclists. The Clovenford to Cadenhoote road was closed as part of that and proved such a success that the closure was made permanent to create a car-free stretch which is now used extensively by dog walkers and cyclists. The local primary school is also making use of the grass football pitch halfway down the road because there is now safe access as previously it was a 60-mile-an-hour road with no pavement. That 20-mile-an-hour limit is now fully operational across the borders. This has, I believe, improved the lives of communities such as in Stow, which is a very narrow pavement abutting the busy and also very narrow A7 and busy A7 which runs right through the village. In Gala Shields there's a new hike and bike hub which was opened last year in Channel Street aiming to promote active travel and healthy leisure activities and make them available to everyone regardless of income on a quote's page you can close quote's basis. So some are hired, some are reduced rate and some are free. There are also many bike recycling social enterprises. Examples, one such as Penikook Recycles, another at Stow Cycle Hub right at the station which also includes hire and yet another in Tweed Bank called Just Cycle which recycles bikes designed for the tip so you don't need to have a lot of money to have a bike, some of these are terrific bargains. There's a 51-mile circular cycle route through the Scottish borders that goes through Tweed Bank Melrose past Leader Viaduct into Scotsview and there's others running parallel with the Tweed, east and west absolutely protected and away from the main road very flat and quite often tarmac so also suitable for wheelchairs and prams. Borders Buses carries a sign quotes the bus you can take your bike on close quotes it has 23 bike friendly buses so that takes you away from these very busy roads which you can't cycle on, get your bike on the bus in Edinburgh, Glasgow and take it or take it on the train and of course it's the famous mountain biking centre at Glentress which is for real cyclists with different levels of biking trails. I've never been on any of them and never intend to be I value my bones. In Midlothian the council has been funded over 266,000 for three projects and one of these I'll give an example is called Shofair Connections is to be completed in 2026. This is important because Shofair is an area which has a huge housing development adjacent to Borders railway station. It's commencing in October this year and we'll consider priority routes for active travel infrastructure in the Shofair area. Now this is what's important when we look at planning ahead when you're doing developments building active travel routes at the beginning and of course there's many cycle paths across Midlothian. Each Midlothian school has a travel plan which aims to encourage pupils and staff to walk, cycle or scoot more often. Midlothian has 17 such primary schools and in my patch it's stress, corn bank and cuckin and Sacred Heart and there's another these are all in Penicook and another in Gorebridge. There are also secondary school cycle clubs Beastlack and Last Weed High School offer extracurricular cycle clubs and Penicook High is just in the process of starting it. So there's a lot of work, important work being done in primary and secondary schools. Other initiatives include installation of cycle lanes where appropriate, not on some of the main roads certainly, cycle and scooter parking provision at schools, route maps showing recommended safe routes to school and something called participation in bike week with an event including bling your bike where pupils decorate their bike or scooter and ticket to ride where pupils receive raffle tickets for cycling going into an end of week prize draw for cycle prizes. Roslyn Chapel and the National Mining Museum from Scotland have become the first two visitor attractions in the Lothians to achieve the cyclists welcome award from Visit Scotland. Substantial development to encourage in particular more cycling but safety for cyclists must be secure. I tried several years ago cycling to Parliament to access the cycle path through the park and they had to cycle a short distance without the designated cycle path. I was knocked off by a passing car lost by confidence and confess my bike is now a very handy handbag rack in the hall and there it will stay. Thank you. Thank you miss Graham. The bonus I referred to earlier of course is an annual membership to Glen Tress. So we'll now have Brian Whittle to be joined by Fiona Hyslop again. A generous six minutes Mr Whittle. Thank you deputy I have to say I rise here still reeling from the knowledge that I have been dropped as a buddy of Graham Simpson cycling in favour of Fiona Hyslop. I am delighted to be able to speak in this debate and I think that his members are aware. I'm a supporter of investment in active travel and encouraging that physical activity given our country's poor health record. A recent report from December 2022 in the Journal of Transport and Health says and I quote physical activity levels can be increased by implementing policies that provide convenient, safe and connected walking and cycling infrastructure promoting active travel and give strong support to public transport. Also there is a article in the Science Direct which said and again quoting providing new walking and or bike infrastructure was strongly associated with the increased levels of physical activity. I think crucially it's making it easier to access active travel and encourages people to use active travel networks. But such strands identified a lack of funding as one of the main barriers that local authorities face in delivering that net zero even when with Government funding local authorities struggle to secure the match funding required to be shortlisted for projects which slows down the delivery of that infrastructure. Additionally they say that the cost of infrastructure maintenance is often too significant for local authorities to meet alone. That brings me to the Conservative amendment in the name of Rhym Simpson which asks for a clear route and delivery plan that addresses how it will help local authorities that do not have capacity to achieve these targets. I wanted to have a look here at the introduction of the low emission zones now that one is live in Glasgow. I looked at again a Sustran 2019 report on reducing car use in Scottish cities and they say that three ways to reduce car dependency are developing high quality neighbourhoods improving public transport and provision walking and cycling across cities and make them competitive with driving and taking steps to reduce the number of cars within cities and towns. The problem that I have here is that the Scottish Government started at the third of those without recognising that people still have to travel across and into the city. The introduction of the car ban without developing alternatives has put an increasing pressure on those who drive older cars disproportionately impacting those who can least afford car upgrades. John Mason. I thank the member for giving away but would he accept that Glasgow has a pretty good local transport system? My constituency has 11 railway stations and at least six bus routes that are very frequent. It is not a rural area. We have very good public transport in Glasgow. Brian Whittle. I thank John Mason for that introduction but if you have to get in and out of the city it is problematic. From a business perspective looking at business people who have to travel from one meeting to another it is actually quite difficult to do so. I wanted to say that what should have happened in that case is that infrastructure investment prior to the introduction of the low emission zone should have made the transformation as easy as possible for both commuters and businesses. That takes me to some of the amendments that I did try to introduce when this bill went through Parliament in the last term and specifically what I wanted to mention was that the LEZ legislation should allow that all revenue incurred above administration of the scheme should be used for activities that contribute towards climate change targets and actions to reduce air pollution. That was not passed and it was also voted down by the Greens which I think came as a bit of a surprise to me because the LEZ bill does of course, yeah. I seem to remember just a few minutes ago one of the member's colleagues was asking me whether we shouldn't tell local authorities how they should use money that's provided for them. Now is he saying that we should dictate from the centre how money should be used locally. Surely he can recognise that this is a case for decentralising that decision making. The problem you have of course is that when you introduced this bill as I said before, one of the things that should happen is that there should be infrastructure prior to the bill that should make it easier for people to get around but you already do centralise so much of the money minister in this particular instance we should be making it easier for local councils to implement that infrastructure because the LEZ bill does not ring fence of budget to support alternative ways of travel through the zones and there is no preparation of alternative travel infrastructure that is joined up in a proactive manner so we do need the Scottish Government to plan for the implementation of low emission zones and ensure travel is accessible and makes the decision to adopt public transport as easy as possible. I also want to mention a third sector organisation cycle station who recycle bikes in my area and last year they recycle some 640 bikes put them back into the community at a fraction of the cost of a new bike. They are actively engaging with the community to improve their services they have increased cycle classes for cycle training and learn to ride sessions they are now running four sessions a week on a Saturday morning for children aged 3 to 15 and they started out with kids as young as three on balance bikes and on feedback from the community they now offer tailored classes for children aged 7 to 10 which are now fully booked their bike refurbishment is aligned with the circular economy and the good weather has boosted sales and they are busy in their workshops with services repairs and the refurbishment of bike for reuse and redistribution they now need additional space from this expansion to meet demand and refurbishing parts as well as whole bikes and as Sir Stran reports states many of their barriers that they face align with that Sir Stran report or Sir Stran's report and they say that the biggest challenge last year was gaining funding for refurbishment of the new building in Darvel to allow that expansion of our operation and facilities for the benefit of the community so I have invited the minister before to come and visit Cycle Station I would again like to invite the minister to visit Cycle Station and see the great work that they do perhaps this is where we should be the Scottish Government should look at how they can turbo charge their ambition by backing third sector organisations like Cycle Station who promote that active travel it is economically prudent and they reach the very people we would all like to reach Thank you Mr Whittle Fiona Hyslop to be followed by Evelyn Tweed again in a generous six minutes Presiding Officer we all know the physical and mental health benefits of active travel by now feeling clearer headed after some fresh air, being more productive after a walk, saving on fuel and reducing traffic in our streets I have a daily 50 minutes walking as part of my commute to Hollywood via the train service and definitely feel the benefit The Scottish Government has continually displayed its commitment to active travel and increasing levels of walking, cycling and wheeling It has committed to spending at least £320 million or 10% of the total transport budget on active travel by 2024-25 up from £39 million in 2017-18 This funding will see projects throughout Scotland making public spaces more suitable for active travel as well as pilot projects to improve accessibility to active travel This could be offering free bikes to children who cannot afford them shared higher schemes or bike riding and maintenance training for communities The comprehensive approach will benefit people's health and wellbeing improve their connections and communities and not to mention the huge benefit to the environment in the form of reduced carbon emissions and traffic congestion West Lothian, which I represent is a county with small towns with regular commuters We are well placed to demonstrate how active travel can work to make use of biking or walking to train or bus stations rather than driving into cities I would urge the minister to prioritise such hub and spoke links in West Lothian in funding and not just prioritise cities Walking or wheeling to public transport hubs on the M8 and M9 for bus and to rail stations including the new station we need at Winchborough just makes sense to stop car commuting Liam Kerr The net zero committee that we both sit on produced a comprehensive report some six months or so ago saying that one of the main concerns for councils is the lack of skills to deliver net zero programmes in particular around active travel Is the member aware of whether the Scottish Government has taken that particular recommendation to increase skills on board? The issue is particularly around planning we know whether it's infrastructure for active travel or indeed other areas around net zero and my concern particularly around this issue is regional transport partnerships and are they really effective at joining up and sharing the skills between local authorities as indeed might have been referred to by Mr Simpson In the Lothgo we have seen a world-class cycling facility it's just been opened at the end of May by Minister Marie Todd to provide access to a safe, traffic-free environment for cycling for children to learn or adults, particularly women to learn again to cycle safely and confidently and I did suggest to Mr Simpson as he is a keen cyclist that he may wish to visit the Wesleyan Cycle Circuit This year from the third to the 13th of August the UCI World Championships cyclists come together across Scotland to compete at the highest level, they'll make history and show the world the power of the bike It is the biggest global cycling event ever stage featuring 13 world championships across seven disciplines and this world-class event will inspire and motivate people to try a bike again at this cycle circuit we have in Wesleyan I am proud to have played my part in negotiating and securing the UCI World Championship event for Scotland when I was a minister Constitutions also benefit from the Wesleyan Bike Library who work in partnership with the council to help people to get active and connected through cycling and I would encourage my constituents to take part in the Wesleyan Council consultation on active travel to inform the Wesleyan active travel plan and also help them to bid for the funds that the minister referred to I've also had the opportunity to work directly with Sustrans, Wesleyan Council and my constituents to actively improve active transport links in my own constituency Capstone Walk is a stretch of pathway linking the outlying Springfield area of Llanlithgow to the town centre and it was in a state of disrepair despite being a pathway a core pathway used by pupils going to schools and by local people to commute to the train station so working collaboratively with Sustrans, Wesleyan Council has created the efforts to get the pathway repaired and it is now much more suitable for wheeling use so this work is an example of allowing accessible to all pathways encouraging walkers, cyclists, wheelchairs users and prams to travel into their own town centre safely and actively rather than driving The national cycle network through Scotland consists of roughly 1,643 miles of routes in Scotland and 702 miles of traffic for your routes using railway pass canal tow pass, forest roads shared use pass segregated cycle lanes and redetermined rural footways and the national cycle network is a massive asset to Scotland it cuts through my constituency enabling people to actively explore this beautiful country looking at figures for the 1920 we can see the benefit of the national cycle network it was used by 4.2 million people 70.9 million car trips were saved 1.64 billion was spent in local businesses by leisure and tourist users and 21.5 million was saved by the NHS through the network's impact on people's health we also know that the current planning system creates a dependency on cars and I would ask the minister are planning stipulations for 2.4 cars in new housing developments still happening and we know that the section 75 agreements should be better utilised by local authorities to support sustainable and accessible act of travel and public transport links and recently constituents in Bridgend in my constituency contact to be wanting to see the council make use of section 75 agreements from proposed housing developments to promote cycle pass act of travel is not a priority for the Conservative Party with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak receiving an open letter from a coalition in businesses using a reversal of the proposed cuts to act of funding announced by UK transport secretary Mark Harper on 9 March in comparison the Scottish Government is putting the health and wellbeing of citizens and the environment at the heart of policy with record levels of funding for act of travel in Scotland the Scottish Government has consistently demonstrated its commitment to act of transport this positive development must continue and we will continue to see changes in people's health, the environment and the economy there is a lot of power in act of travel allowing people to change lifestyles for the better to help our environment and very importantly in the 21st century connecting people in a greener more sustainable way and I am pleased to support the minister's motion Thank you Mrs Hyslop and I call Evelyn Tweed to be followed by Claire Baker again in a generous six minutes Ms Tweed Thank you Presiding Officer The Government's emissions come from transport and cars account for the largest share of this at 38% Cutting transport emissions is vital if we are to prevent irreversible climate change and lead healthier lives The Scottish Government's aim to reduce car kilometres by 20% by 2030 is an important goal and good act of travel options do a great deal to reduce car use As the minister and others have mentioned the UCI cycling world championships taking place across Scotland including in my sterling constituency this August will be a fantastic showcase for cycling and act of travel however we must also take this opportunity to understand why people are not choosing act of travel including a lack of infrastructure smaller rural communities often suffer from connectivity issues both within communities and between neighbouring areas Fast roads with no pavements and poor public transport links make getting around sustainably a challenge Paired with increasing centralisation of services including GPs and supermarkets this leads to higher resilience on cars Indeed sterling has the highest vehicle ownership per thousand population in Scotland at 584 Reliance on cars also entrenties inequalities and limits accessibility accessibility for those without access to a car In my constituency there are key gaps in act of travel infrastructure and these still need to be filled such as the much needed connection between dune and calendar there is a massive demand for this but at present there is no safe or accessible route and yesterday I wrote to Sustrans for an update on progress Across my constituency pro act of rural communities are delivering excellent act of travel projects the Calearn community futures company are working on a path to better connect new developments with the rest of the village Regrettably the planning system had allowed the developer to provide only a narrow pavement link for walking with no provision for cycling or wheeling The community has decided to take action and applied for Sustrans places for everyone funding although NPF4 is a great step towards prioritising act of travel links in planning those involved with this project ask for higher minimum standards for new developments When I spoke to Stirling Council about act of travel in rural areas they highlighted that there are indeed many engaged rural communities who are keen for improvement however when projects are prioritised on a value for money basis those in areas with lower density populations are harder to find a business case for those rural routes would not have the same number of core users as city routes they are still an important step in connecting our rural communities and reducing car use they highlighted the potential for a dedicated fund for rural projects in order to progress key links but they also needed provision of funds for maintenance because that is also an important issue The Scottish Government has committed to spend at least £320 million 10% of the total transport budget on act of travel by 2025 and I welcome the new £20 million transformation fund through funding going directly to delivery partners this will support a faster progress on infrastructure improvements and I hope that specific funds will be dedicated to rural areas I'm also pleased that the Scottish Government's long-term vision for act of travel in Scotland 2030 highlights the importance of better maintenance and increased provision in rural areas it's much needed and I'm very eager to hear how these plans will be achieved as we transition to more act of travel it is likely that we will remain car dependent for the near future in the absence of reliable public transport links steps should also be taken to find short-term solutions for rural communities in my constituency the community in Doon have faced very high levels of car traffic and a lack of parking they have worked hard to come up with an innovative solution in the form of park and stride an old council site outside the village has been repurposed for parking and electric vehicle charging this encourages those who can to walk through the village to Doon castle made famous by Outlander and Monty Python the aim of the project is to reduce congestion in the village and increase footfall to local businesses and encourage visitors to spend more time in the village we look to other nations admiring their active travel infrastructure and it's easy to forget though that the bike culture of somewhere like the Netherlands is not a natural phenomenon as the minister has noted it's the product of hard work fierce activism and investment over the course of many years and it will take hard work here too but the outcome will be so worthwhile reduce car use lower emissions, cleaner air increased wellbeing the benefits are many and I look forward to seeing how the Scottish Government will ensure our rural communities see progress too thank you Clare Baker to be followed by John Swinney in six minutes I apologise for my need to leave the chamber soon as I have a meeting with the Minister for Parliamentary Business and my role as a committee convener but I'll endeavour to be back as soon as possible and I hope to be here for closing speeches and thank you to the Prime Minister for accepting my request we know how important act of travel is to reducing emissions and to improving health alongside the other related benefits but travelling around Scotland it is clear to see that there is much more we need to do to shift away from car use our local authorities have a key role in delivery but they face huge challenges in terms of funding and also in securing the skills needed to deliver on programmes like act of travel which are vital to net zero their budgets have been under significant pressure for a number of years and increasing the act of travel budget now won't compensate for over a decade of cuts we need to see consistent investment which prioritises encouraging and enabling people to get out of their cars to walk into cycle so that we can reap the benefits for health and for all our communities to encourage act of travel at the levels we want to see it needs to be a key core part of infrastructure development thought about in conjunction with public transport, housing and planning and social inclusion both at an initial stage and in terms of maintenance we need to think about the range of ways act of travel can be built into our lives and communities and ensure that people are able to access local services as well as onward transport routes when we look at provision in terms of cycling we have seen some significant improvement within cities and towns but these have been a bit too piecemeal there are too often cycle routes which come to an abrupt stop and there are too few fully formalised routes with segregated lanes there have been nowhere near enough improvements in connecting towns and villages with cycling networks so that people could cycle into towns and cities from the countryside and vice versa so that organisations can still emulate local economies and open up Scotland to more people including those on lower incomes we have seen how the north coast 500 has been used to bring in tourists to that part of the country but we should be looking at promoting cycling equivalents which would bring people to enjoy our scenery our communities and our hospitality by getting around on their bikes in fact there are some beautiful coastal routes and I welcome the recent improvements that we have seen but there are still gaps and as for walking routes we need to look at the condition of the path network and consider how to properly fund its on-going maintenance that is an issue that a few members have raised this afternoon we should recognise that active travel needs to work alongside public transport commuter is often have to be able to walk or cycle to bus stops and train stations this also means providing suitable and secure bike storage so that people are comfortable leaving bikes when they make their onward journeys it means increasing the bike spaces that we have on trains and buses so that they can be used at the other end of the journeys as Christine Grahame highlighted in her own region to often I think people who are trying to get around the country find that they can't access the public transport mode with their bikes behaviour change programmes are a key part of encouraging people to change their travel habits in my own region organisations like Greenock or Coddy who I visited recently are working with the community to deliver sustainable change including through walking festivals cycle rides and training and in bike repairs and services and services like Dr Bike are out and about in the community making it easier for people to access the help they need to get on two wheels removing barriers to participation and I was pleased that my own bike was recently made fit for the road again by Dr Bike when he visited our offices in Loggelli when it comes to increasing participation there needs to be more targeted action in those areas we need to see an improvement in the data collected on active transport and gender for example but we already know that men are much more likely to cycle than women we know that active travel for children getting to schools is declining we know that access to active travel is often divided along economic lines or by rural and urban areas so we need to see initiatives which target particular groups and encourage a modal shift for them and sometimes not as a modal shift because we are talking about people who do not have cars in our leave and mouse area it is one of the lowest car ownership in the country and it is about facilitating those people to be more active behaviour change is not just about encouraging more people to walk or cycle Cycling Scotland's annual give cycle space campaign is running at the moment and it highlights some of the challenges that need to be addressed there are over 500 drivers who do not cycle themselves and while 97% agreed that people drive too closely to cyclists are putting lives at risk over a third admit that they don't think of someone cycling as a person rather they are focused on getting past or on with their journey that is a frightening thought for anyone who is thinking about cycling segregated lanes are not always available and they are not always well maintained nor are they required to be used by bikes even when they are available and I think that point was made earlier about Holyrood park so in my region the connectivity project for leave-in is seeking to transform provision for walking, wheeling and cycling in the leave mouse area including upgrading around 24km of existing roads and paths of which 10km will be segregated from vehicles the benefits of increasing active travel are huge but to secure those benefits needs consistent and improved support alongside behavioural change programmes which enable people to make changes to their transport habits the funds announced today are welcome and while there are advantages to a bidding process we do need to see sustainable funding I'll close by welcoming the UCI Cycling World Championships coming to Scotland later this year I look forward to seeing the road race taking place in various parts of my region as well as the trial that will be in Stirling and I'd be keen to hear more from the minister on how the Scottish Government is working on such events but to generate that all-important active travel legacy Thank you John Swinney to be followed by Mark Russell around six minutes Mr Swinney I welcome this debate and commend the minister on the personal energy that he brings to this important topic and I know from my extensive discussions with him over the course of the period in which he's been involved in government how seriously he takes these issues and is providing the commitment and the leadership to advance this agenda. One of the comments that the minister made in his opening remark was that we had to make it easier and safer for active travel and I think the more we think about how that can be turned into a practical reality the better we will serve the interests of this policy agenda because I think from my own experience I took part in a local cycling exercise in the city of Perth that's a place I don't normally cycle I normally cycle in country areas on very quiet roads I did find the experience of cycling in the city of Perth very unnerving because of the interplay of fast moving traffic and volumes of traffic so I think there are significant obstacles to people feeling that it is safe to cycle in particular context and that should underpin a lot of our thinking because it all matters in achieving the contribution of getting people out of cars and on to other modes of transport which will help to reduce carbon emissions of course Mark Ruskell I share his experience of the difficulties in cycling around Perth would he agree with me that it hasn't helped that the local council has taken out a number of cycle lanes and that's made the streets potentially more dangerous I think that that is a concern I'm going to come on to talk about some local issues in the Perthshire area where I think my council colleagues are now taking the initiative back to make sure that we have a much more sustained approach to secure greater levels of participation in cycling and active travel because that is essential to reduce the contribution to emissions I think that those points in the Government's agenda very much at the heart of what the Minister's agenda is all about is about the creation of a common purpose agenda between the Government, local authorities, regional transport partnerships and communities because the Government can't do this all on its own and it's not appropriate to land all this on the Government because many of these decisions have to be taken at local level which makes the stance that the Conservative party is taking in the debate today just a little bit odd because the amendment that Graham Simpson is putting forward will delete the reference to the very active levels of investment in local authority provision that the Minister is making today so having made a plea for the Government to support local authorities with funding the Conservatives now want us to pass a rather silly amendment which would actually take out reference to that particular point Mercedes Vialba made a very strong point about the importance of improving air quality but the intervention I wanted to make on her was for her to answer my bewildered question about what an earth the Glasgow Labour Party was doing in the run up to the introduction of the Glasgow low emission zone last week of suddenly saying they thought there were problems with it having had a manifesto commitment to deliver it now I don't I don't cite these examples to unnecessarily make trouble for myself in a parliamentary debate because I'm always trying to bring people together in this chamber but I do think these are stunning examples of the problem that we face that the Minister faces and the whole climate action agenda faces of getting people to establish some degree of consistency between our vigorous strategic agreement about the importance of tackling climate change and the specific things we've got to do about it on the ground and I cite deposit return scheme there's a massive problem with that that becomes an obstacle workplace parking levy we can't do that all the other things that get cited and here we are in an active travel debate and the Minister's putting money on the table to try to help things forward and folk are moaning about it well, since I was since I was inciting the principal source of the moaning and the complaining today I must give way to Mr Simpson can I just point out to John Swinney that at no point in my contribution did I moan or complain about anything Patrick Harvie said in fact I but perhaps he would recognise that I started my contribution by saying that I agreed with what Patrick Harvie had been saying and if only Mr Swinney could adopt that tone it would be all the better John Swinney I can give you the time back I'm very grateful I'm just trying to encourage people to establish a relationship between our strategic commitment to tackling climate change and actually being prepared to do something about it on the ground and that's the point I'm making out let me move on to some of the local issues I said to Mr Ruskell that I would talk about one of the very good examples I see locally in my constituency is how developments have taken place that have enabled active travel so for example when the Perth flood defence scheme was put in place an extensive cycling network was put in place off-road around the north mutant area it's a wonderful access to the city that will be complimented when the completion of the cross-tail link route now I know that Mr Ruskell is not a fan of that particular development a park can choose space where people can park their cars and then choose how they access the city from quite far out of the city in rural areas I make a plea to the minister as I did when he came to visit my constituency for the Government to look seriously at community aspirations for stronger regulation to enable communities to be able to access land for community projects for active travel development I've got a number of examples particularly in the Cooper Angus Blair-Gowrie-Ailith triangle where great community groups want to establish cycle ways but they are thwarted by their lack of ability to make progress on land acquisition or even land access issues where public authorities will have stronger powers than community organisations another venture I've visited constituents the other week there where we cycled along the cycle route beside the A90 dual carriageway between Perth and Dundee on the stretch between Walnut Grove and St Meadows this is quite literally a pavement at the side of the A90 when you cycle along it even for somebody of sturdy determination it is quite daunting and intimidating to think about how we can develop spaces and routes St Meadows is a growing commuter community to the city of Perth it's got an opportunity for people to use that for access to the city but the infrastructure is just not quite there and I've written to the transport minister on that particular issue and I do hope the minister today will engage on that question I think the government is taking the right steps I welcome very much the investment Government today and the commitment to active travel and I do hope it helps us to make the modal shift that is necessary to support our ambitions on climate change thank you Mr Swinney I now call Mark Ruskell to be followed by John Mason again around six minutes Mr Ruskell thank you very much Deputy Presiding Officer and can I welcome this debate coming after a world bicycle day on Saturday when we celebrated what the Dutch I believe call Fietzgeluk happiness a state perhaps typified by Graham Simpson and his rambling journeys around the countryside together with his lead out man Brian Whittle now it's clear that the record breaking levels of investment to create dedicated spaces where we can walk wheel and ride in safety is starting to deliver if we build it and they will come and very encouraged to hear the transformation fund today by the minister which I think is really going to help to build that capacity in local councils that has been dwindling in recent years so in Stirling for example we've already heard from Evelyn Tweed with some Stirling examples but you know we have the new railway station concourse that's been put in place and the routes around town and out to the university and they are the most significant step in redesigning the transport infrastructure of the city that we've seen in over a generation I know that the minister recently visited Stirling and those green shoots that are starting to appear around the country now really are testament to the work of a movement that has been relentless in its goal to reclaim the streets for people and I'd like to in particular pay tribute to Ian Finlay who is such a wonderful advocate and an inspiration personally to me and many others who joined him in that important mission the debate on active travel is about much more than just simple modes of transport it's ultimately about designing places that are friendlier, safer and healthier, places that feel accessible regardless of your mobility your age, your income or even your ability to drive places that are nice to spend time in green beautiful and sociable spaces of course we can ask people to walk or we can train and support them to do so as well but if the streets are dangerous, if pavements are blocked, if traffic is too congested and too fast then they will not and even segregated infrastructure can't possibly join up every single journey from door to door and I think a key litmus test here is our schools because if young people and their families living within just a couple of miles find it difficult to walk wheel cycle then we clearly need intervention and investment so the streets where we live work and play have to also feel safer where the car is a guest and a polite and respectful one at that and getting the foundations right is vital and I want to highlight two simple national interventions that I think will be transformational for communities across Scotland and that's 21 hour speed limits and the enforcement of pavement parking two issues that I have said I have enjoyed working closely with Kevin Stewart on over the last couple of months and I very much wish him well for the future now traffic speed is often cited as the biggest barrier to cycling and 20 mile an hour is the right maximum speed for the majority of roads where motor vehicles mix with pedestrians, wheelers and cyclists and of course for every 1 mile an hour reduction average speed there is between a 4 and 6% reduction in road casualties in real lives that are being saved now the extensive borders council pilot has shown conclusively that 21 hour benefits both urban and rural communities and of course they're popular too so no sooner has one community switched to 20 than others demand to go 20 as well now some members might remember that in 2019 I moved a members bill to make 20 mile an hour the norm in Scotland and although that bill did not pass at the time progress has been made since then the Welsh government passed an almost identical measure and as a result the majority of Welsh roads that are currently 30 will have flipped to 20 by September this year and in Scotland all appropriate roads will be designated as 20 mile an hour by 2025 councils have been asked to draw up similar detailed plans to Welsh councils for implementation and some such as Highland council have already led the way and are rolling out 20s across 116 communities early on before that deadline now in sterling the council hopes to complete the full roll out of 20 mile an hour by the end of this coming year with only four communities yet to have those limits installed but there is still some way to go and it is critical that in the absence of a national legislative changes as seen in Wales that all councils commit to implementation at the same time scale so the benefits of national communication and roll out can be achieved and that funding is provided by the Scottish government now I found that 20 mile an hour roll out often triggers a community conversation about how we can make our streets safer and the roll out of pavement parking enforcement I hope will do the same because the daily frustration felt by so many when vehicles block pavements is a barrier that many of us don't fully understand until we are pushing a child's buggy or we walk alongside friends who use a wheelchair so I urge everyone with a stake in their community to respond to the current transport Scotland consultation on enforcement Presiding Officer this summer we are going to see the power of the bike across Scotland incredible moments and memories will be made through the cycling world championships but I also hope that the legacy of that will be greater awareness as well as greater participation cycling as a sport is one of the great levelers and while heroes like Wout Van Arts have already been seen training on the roads around Stirling ahead of the championship nothing to stop mere mortals like you and me Presiding Officer from hopping on a bike and joining him on the same roads but another cycling hero record breaking Christina McKenzie was knocked off her bike last September while out training on those same roads around Stirling the driver didn't stop and has not been caught and Christina has made a recovery but for too many others a ghost bike by the side of the road is a lasting reminder of recklessness and tragedy so I do think that a fitting legacy for these first combined cycling world championships held here in Scotland would be the delivery of a long-awaited dashcam portal from Police Scotland and I urge the Government to help make this happen and I look forward to a summer of Featsgalook as we continue our journey towards becoming a safe and confident nation of cyclists wheelers and walkers and I now call John Mason to be followed by Russell Finlay Mr Mason Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak in this debate I do strongly believe in active travel however if you want a confession at the start of my speech I have never really enjoyed cycling so I will be concentrating on walking for most of what I have to say today one aspect of active travel is walking as is cycling in order to get to public transport be that a bus or a train but those of us who actually have a car have to make the conscious decision whether to use it or not for a particular journey for example on Saturday I was at a Baptist Union of Scotland event at Larbert High School and I could have done the journey by car from home in about half an hour however I decided to combine walking and the train partly so that I could read my committee papers on the way because the time in a car is wasted time and I am fortunate to have a local station within 10 minutes and Queen Street station is excellent nowadays for changing between the low and the high levels I then had a 20 minute walk from the station in Larbert to the school and much the same on the way back but it did mean that it took me roughly one and a half hours to get there and nearly two hours to get back so in this example it was between three and four times as long a journey using the car that was fine for me and I felt I used the time well and I had as well as that much more exercise than if I used the car and so certainly I felt better and definitely slipped better that night but I do think that this is one of the key factors in comparing how to travel it's not just about shorter everyday journeys as the motion suggests that is certainly one factor but it's also important how much longer walking or cycling and public transport can take if I take the car to church on Sunday it's about five minutes if I walk it is 20 minutes that is a factor of four times but actually longer journeys are more competitive for example if I go to the SNP conference in Aberdeen by train it will not be very much different time wise from taking the car therefore I would suggest that while short local journeys are the best starting point for getting people out of their cars they clearly are important although I said I lost my place there I'm usually on two pages although I said I would focus on walking I'm happy to mention cycling as well we're seeing tremendous increase in dedicated cycle lanes in Glasgow and the council is to be commended for that I gather that there has been £3.6 million investment programme to encourage walking, wheeling and cycling in Glasgow just in my own constituency London road is seeing considerable on-going work so that there will soon be cycle lanes most of the way from Bridgeton Cross out to Dildawu along London road and that is on top of some great existing routes such as the walking and cycling path along the Clyde from Carmile to Glasgow green safety is another factor in all of this not least around schools as I think has been mentioned already there have been various attempts to encourage young people to walk or cycle to school but the number still being taken by car should cause us a lot of concern maybe the parents are on route somewhere else and it is easier to drop the kids off on the way but the effect is to make it more dangerous for all the other kids going to that school be it the vehicles themselves or traffic fumes or whatever again in Glasgow there have been attempts to create exclusion zones near primary schools around 9am and 3pm to prevent vehicles coming right up to the school gates if memory serves me correctly this was piluses in Haddington and I am enthusiastic about the concept but in Glasgow at least these zones do not seem to be enforced much if at all and so they can be ignored by determined parents and safety on both roads and pavements is the responsibility of us all I frequently see adult cyclists riding far too fast on the pavements and the impatience of many pedestrians to cross the road without waiting for the green signal is just asking for accidents to happen on the other hand if we do want to encourage more walking we need to make pedestrian crossings respond more quickly when the button to cross is pushed to change the lights if you have to press the button and then wait for ages until the lights stop the traffic it is no wonder that people have put off walking or to take risks crossing the road if we are serious about putting pedestrians ahead of cars and lorries then cars and lorries need to wait longer at red lights can I also say something about what I believe are some of the other benefits of walking one is clearly physical health and if we want to tackle obesity and some of our other health issues then more physical exercise including walking is very much part of the answer then again there is importance of mental health in our offices here at Hollywood we each have thinking pods in our offices although I am not actually sure if cabinet secretary and ministers actually have these Mr Swinney is indicating that they don't however I confess that I do not use my thinking pod for thinking but I use it as a shelf for storing papers no more positively if I want to think or inflect or even pray I would rather go out for a walk we have the Salisbury crags and Arthur's seat on our doorstep and it was up there I collected and prayed back in 1983 to dedicate three of years of my life to Nepal we are all different but walking can make a huge difference to our mental health as well as to our physical health and I think that would very much be the message from groups like Paths for All who are active in my constituency and elsewhere I just saw one of their tweets yesterday and they said walking or wheeling can offer valuable time to catch up with a friend or loved one boost your mood and reduce anxiety connect you to your local community and services offer you valuable time in nature so all in all I hope we can very much support today's motion yes the government and our local councils can do a certain amount investing in cycle lanes, paths low emission zones etc but we all have a part to play MSPs and citizens at large how many of us have cars sitting in the Parliament car park which do not need to be there could we leave them at home next week and come here using a combination of public transport and active travel let's set an example when I agreed to speak about active travel I wasn't even sure what active travel was and I'm sure that many people out there probably don't really understand what the term actually means but having looked it up it turns out I'm a big fan of active travel every single day I jump on my bike and then catch a train to and from Parliament and I'm doing so I dash past the ranks of chauffeur driven gleaming government limos which are often sitting yes I will that was quick for Mr Finlay and the benefit of others in the chamber and more widely that the Scottish Government has never had limos and actually a lot of ministers in their time have chosen to come to work by walking, by bicycle and by other modes of transport so I just think such phrases is the one that Mr Finlay has just used they are a disservice to him and the wider public let's go debate I thank the former minister for his intervention there must be imagining things there are cars waiting for them there are called limosines or whatever name you want to give them and they are for the purpose of taking ministers to and from official business now to be fair at least one minister does also frequently use a bike and that of course is Patrick Harvie and I'm going to spend most of my time talking about cycling and I want to put on the record that just like Mr Simpson, Mr Whittle I am also not a mammal however I'm slightly perplexed at Patrick Harvie's reluctance to wear a helmet during a bike safety course the children taking part warhead protection but not the minister who's reportedly said there's no evidence that helmets make cycling safer or that they're only of value in a learning setting and most intriguing of all that they're not his style and I've seen Mr Harvie in the streets of Glasgow in my heart sometimes it's in my mouth as I see him dodging weave through the traffic and partic and just last month the minister politely declined the offer of a gifted helmet from a newspaper and I think it's vitally important that people do wear helmets because I've had a couple of crashes in my time once when I was a child I had a head on collision or something and there was no helmets in those days and almost two years ago I had another crash and I think had I not been wearing a helmet I would almost certainly have suffered quite a serious injury I will, thank you Minister I'm grateful to the member for giving way and without wanting to cast his versions on the motivation of the right wing press in that particular stunt that they undertook I hope that the party that often is a supporter of individual liberty will respect the fact that this is a matter of individual choice I fully respect the member's decision to make his choice to wear a helmet if that makes him feel safer I hope he respects mine I absolutely respect the minister's right to make that choice and I don't expect he would necessarily want to listen to a Tory on the subject but he might listen to the brain injury charity headway who's saying I quote, using negative language that discourages the use of helmets puts lives at risk and I think as a minister there's a great deal of responsibility in that respect Now, Presiding Officer, today's Scottish Government motion and our party's amendment refers to the UCI cycling championships in Glasgow in August which will be the world's biggest ever cycling event UCI team recently came into Parliament with a fixed bike in which MSPs all competed one SNP minister peddled with such gusto that he ripped his trousers a Labour MSP sat on top of the leaderboard for two days then had another go when he was toppled I'll not name those two and I'm also far too modest to mention who took gold suffice to say it was a rare Tory win in this place I also hope that when the UCI does come to Glasgow that the SNP council will do something about the state of the roads we don't have potholes in Glasgow we've got craters that look sometimes more like a lunar landscape and a cycling Scotland survey has found that one of the main barriers for people taking up cycling are concerns about road safety and everywhere you look around Glasgow you see significant sums of money appearing to be spent on improving active travel and cycling but I believe sometimes the results can actually make journeys more dangerous I'll give you an example the rubber delineators that separate cycling lanes from the main road are I believe in themselves can be a hazard and in addition this causes the cycle lanes to become very narrow which then in turn can become choked with rubbish and other debris which I think is quite hard to clear with the equipment that councils have therefore making the lanes to use and pushing cyclists back onto the road now some councils also spend a lot of money I will yes Sarah Boyack I think it is interesting because if we are using space that is currently a road space and reinventing it as cycle spaces you have limited choices so there are different ways you can do it you can just have a line on a road and keep your fingers crossed that everybody sticks by it or you can use the type of infrastructure that started going in during Covid and you are right about repairs maintenance and cleaning but we do have to look at the choices because with the nature of our roads we don't have unlimited options Russell Findlay I don't have a great deal of time but in short it does seem to be pretty chaotic and not really joined up the thinking behind a lot of this stuff I want to quickly turn to some of the Scottish Government's record on active travel take for example the access bike scheme which saw the Government facilitate loans for people to take a bike and credit last time we checked just four people had applied which works out at a cost of around £35,000 per bike the SNP Government also set a target for 10% of all journeys to be taken by bike by 2020 but the following year this was just sitting at 2.8% and the SNP Government also pledged to cut car miles by 20% by 2030 yet from 2015 to 2020 miles driven by cars in Scotland went up by 8% so to conclude the SNP Government often talk a good game about active travel their motion today I believe is an exercise in self congratulation and the truth is they routinely miss targets fail to deliver flagship schemes while also cutting funding as other speakers will undoubtedly attest Thank you Mr Findlay I now call Ben Macpherson to be followed by Rona Mackay Ben Macpherson I welcome today's debate and the motion and I do so as somebody who's had a driving licence since I was a teenager but has decided since then not to own a car I speak today as somebody who loved riding a bike when I was a child at university but haven't had a bike since then but I'm somebody who walks everyday and runs very often too so I want to focus my remarks today on the pedestrian experience and how important active travel is for pedestrians particularly in the urban environments like my constituency of Edinburgh Northern and Leith for those able as the motion highlights the benefits to health and wellbeing of walking are well known and well understood I walk to work everyday along with utilising the wonderful Lothian buses bus travel is something we will discuss at other points in this Parliament and the benefits of particularly in a city like Edinburgh taken in the environment hustle and bustle the vibrancy the beautiful landscapes is a real joy and of course in an area like this the experience of walking is different to others and I respect that but I want to focus on what it's like here in the capital city and as I walk to work this morning thinking about what to say in today's debate I thought about the fact that this past particularly in the 1970s there was a plan for a sixth lane in our city ring road in the city I would have devastated our capital city's aesthetic value the pleasant toll cross Haymarket, Dean valley Stockbridge Inverleith, Cannon Mills and the top of Leith Walk have been changed and much of them would have been demolished to facilitate this inner city ring road and our world heritage site would perhaps never have been realised I highlight this not just because my family was involved in the campaign against it but also because it's important for learning lessons learning lessons of the fact that the car's importance particularly for those with accessibility issues or for those in different parts of the country where distances are longer is really important but at that time the car was thought of as the absolute future and infrastructure for the car being able to be utilised by as many people as possible was at the forefront of people's minds and this sixth lane inner city ring road was the council at the time sought to impose it on the people of Edinburgh against their wishes and indeed the party in power at that time in the city has never been back in power and I say that because the comparison is not the same but we should keep in mind that we always want to take people with us so while thankfully the car did not win the day that we maintained the integrity of the city for walkers and everyone to enjoy as we implement our active travel ambitions we also need to take people with us and I absolutely appreciate the point and the motion around making sure that we undertake transformation at pace but I would caution that that pace is too fast because there is a job to do in order to make sure that we persuade and part of that is about narrative part of it is about perception but the more that people feel that this is about encouraging them to do differently and to act differently and to give them the facilities to do that rather than reducing car use I think the more progress we will make together I really appreciate Ben Macpherson giving away I am listening to his speech in 10 less I really appreciate his speech but would he agree with me that what we it's okay to go quickly but it's not just about stopping people doing things it's been making sure that in preventing them from doing one thing we give them alternative to do another thing and that the change is made as simple as possible Ben Macpherson absolutely true and I think part of it is about considering the different stakeholders involved so making sure and as I know the minister does there is engagement with organisations who represent particular groups of people say for example Inclusion Scotland and what they do in terms of representing the needs of disabled people the Federation for Small Businesses and the way that they represent the needs of small businesses and I see all of this in the constituency of Edinburgh Northern and Leith and in particular the considerations around the tramworks which we're all delighted will be are complete and will be open tomorrow and it's a great thing for Leith and I welcome it but there's been a real challenge on Leith Walk now of accommodating five modes of transport and I respect the decisions that councillors made in that regard and I respect the officials for seeking to implement it but actually as a pedestrian on Leith Walk because of the new cycle lanes it is a very different experience and I just say that because there is a need for nuance and consideration between the different modes of active travel and how in time we get that right and also thinking about the needs of businesses in order to receive deliveries and be able to function in that way so I think we've made great progress the investment is welcome if we can get the narrative as much into the positive as we can then all the better and let's work together on this journey towards active travel to make our experience for people getting from A to B as pleasant as possible learn the lessons of the past and make sure that those health benefits are realised in a way where we also respect the needs of different communities and how they both need to facilitate their businesses but also how different people's different people's needs and challenges in terms of how they travel is something we all need to keep in mind thank you thank you Ms McPherson and I now call Rona Mackay who will be the last speaker before we move to closing speeches thank you times running out before the damage is catastrophic and active travel is a huge part of how we mitigate that damage all speakers here today have highlighted the positives of active travel but as we've heard the negatives are when consultation and inclusivity are not part of the planning when setting out strategies and I'll talk about that later in my contribution I'm proud that Scotland leads the UK in its active travel investment punching above its weight as usual 50 pounds per head Scotland's not just a UK leader on active travel spend but a European leader as well this compares to just one pound per head in England outside London the Scottish Government has massively increased investment in active travel with almost 190 million in 2023 to 2024 a major step towards the commitment of 10 per cent of the transport budget by 2024 to 2025 by 2024 to 2025 this confirms active travel's important role in meeting the Scottish Government's priorities which are equality, opportunity community and building a fairer greener Scotland and the minister's announcement of this transformation fund is extremely welcome the route map of how we get there contains over 30 interventions some of these have been delivered the short term including the groundbreaking free bus travel for under 22s other actions will take longer and some will prove to be more challenging than others infrastructure, incentivisation and regulatory actions a key milestone is the introduction of low emission zones in four of Scotland's cities the first of which in Glasgow is already in force as of this month enhancing the quality of the environment and improving public health of course changes to our daily life is difficult for everyone and there will be bumps along the way but the importance of low emission zones in reaching our climate change targets has been emphasised since the first low emission zone for buses was introduced in 2018 in Glasgow air pollution levels have dropped dramatically we know that active travel is not only good for the planet it's good for our health and wellbeing as well mentally and physically as John Mason said it can combat obesity heart disease and other serious illnesses related to inactivity has delivered a significant step up in investment in spaces where people can walk wheel and cycle safely and ensured that there are more spaces that put people first, not cars and as someone who started walking much more since getting a new puppy this year I already feel the benefits of regular walks in the countryside my own local authority Eastern Bartonshire first published its active travel strategy in 2015 and has progressed significantly since then however it is true that several well-intentioned initiatives such as Cycling Lanes and Bearsden and Shared Space in Kirkntilloch were not planned inclusively with road users residents and disabled people and that caused much concern that was almost 10 years ago and I am confident that the council has learned those lessons as they go forward with their active travel strategy the council's current policy focuses on reducing car dependency in Eastern Bartonshire however rates of car ownership are higher than the Scottish average and model share for active travel particularly cycling is low but I think there is real merit in the adage as Mark Ruskell said if you build it they will come where there is more infrastructure for active travel that cycleway is safely separated from the road there are higher rates of active travel in the Netherlands for example where active travel infrastructure is comprehensive 30 per cent of all journeys under 5 miles are cycled and 36 per cent is the bicycle as the most frequent way of travelling but as Evelyn Tweed pointed out this infrastructure didn't happen by accident it involved long-term planning much investment and attention to all aspects of how it would affect everyday life and of course public transport investment in Seville where extensive cycling infrastructure has been constructed recently rates of cycling have skyrocketed with an 11 fold increase in the number of cycling journeys following the creation of a comprehensive 120 kilometre network of cycling infrastructure the Eastern Bartonshire travel survey clearly illustrates an opportunity for increasing active travel in the area however the survey identifies the main barriers to active travel are safety convenience and carrying things the Scottish household survey found that 70 per cent of the Eastern Bartonshire residents agree that climate change is an urgent problem and two thirds believe that actions and behaviour contribute to climate change John Mason spoke of parents driving children to school and it reminded me of when I used to do to drop my own son off and I'm ashamed to say that I was one of those many cars sitting outside schools and now I think things have improved dramatically the hands up for Scotland's school travel survey showed shared data for school travel in Eastern Bartonshire between 2012 and 2021 and it found that walking and cycling increased marginally to 45 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively the car use decreased by 3 per cent to 23 per cent so still a long way to go Eastern Bartonshire of course has an ageing demographic and this must be taken into account when considering active travel and I agree with many of the points so everyone has to be taken into consideration and those who are able should benefit from it but we must take everybody every circumstances into account so this is an evolving picture nationally and globally we're sure of this unless we embrace active travel which must be supported by the correct investment to provide the infrastructure needed we will continue to destroy the planet for future generations and I certainly don't want that in my conscious I suspect none of us does Thank you Ms Mackay and we will now move to closing speeches and I call on Sarah Boyack to close on behalf of Scottish Labour Ms Boyack It's been a mostly constructive debate around the table today and I think what's been really good is the mix of national targets national ambitions but also really strong local insights and focuses on individual communities and what's happening where we live so I think it's actually about making sure that we've got the national targets and the funding but we also make sure the rollout is going to be as good as possible and as everybody has basically said active travel is absolutely central to the living of our health and wellbeing keeping people active potentially helping us to address pure health the rising obesity that many people experience and some of the powerful statistics have been quoted by colleagues today it's also critical if we're going to give people affordable and safe routes, whether it's services to school, education, retail or work and it's as important as a key part of our sustainable travel ambitions that we have a joined up approach so that Scotland can meet its net zero targets and tackle the climate crisis but as also, as Mercedes Alba said also support our nature recovery and I think the points about air pollution were really important as well and the final point I was thinking about this this morning as I came in as we move towards the summer holidays it should be part of our tourist offer for people in Scotland but also for people to come to Scotland given the beauty the hospitality our country offers but if we're going to deliver on all our ambitions we need the investment and we need the expertise right across the country in all of our councils because that's been one of the critiques as we've gone through today's debate they all need the knowledge the staff and critically the funding to make it happen not just in existing communities but it's one of the parts in our amendment where we've got new housing and developments that are taking place we need to make sure that from day one there are collective travel options walking, cycling but also good bus investment because if we're going to give people the alternative to cars it has got to be there from day one it will be extremely brief as I said in my own speech at Shofair where there's a large housing development that's exactly what they're doing in Midlothian the thing is we've got thousands of houses going up all over the country as we speak and they all need to have that link and we've got many houses that were not connected because as Ben Macpherson said a lot of our towns and cities were effectively built around the car so we need to make sure that we've got not just the ambition but the investment and we thought the Scottish Government's motion no I need to get on I've taken a couple of interventions it was a bit self congratulatory and it didn't address the key issues that put many people off cycling which has actually been one of the themes of this discussion today which is good if we look at making sure that children have safe access to cycling that's partly about planning it's partly about the infrastructure on our roads but it's also about cheap free access to bikes and there are lots of community groups that are working really hard on this I think the other thing I'd want to say is that we did have short-term investment during Covid which made it easier to accommodate the increase in people walking and cycling as they worked from home or used their old communities for exercise and just getting out into a safe environment but we need that to be on-going investment in our communities right across the country and I think the points that Claire Baker made about off-cycle spaces is really really important and it's making sure that when we are retrofitting existing roads that it's as good as possible and that's something that needs to happen and you need the infrastructure at the local level I think that there's a real point about potholes that's been mentioned quite a few times that is dangerous for cyclists I've had several crashes with potholes and if it's at night it's particularly hard to see potholes especially when the lighting is not good and I think there are particular issues about the condition of our paths and networks again that was a point made by Claire Baker that's critical for disabled people but pavements if we're going to have people walking as part of their everyday lives we need to think about people with crutches with walking sticks with people whose sight isn't perfect or who have no sight at all and we need to make sure that our pavements are safe and I have to say I tested this out recently when I was recovering from a broken ankle the pavements are not good enough in a lot of our communities so there's infrastructure repair and maintenance and I think that the point that we put in our motion about thinking through the different experiences people have different communities are really important so the points made by Beatrice Wishart about crowded roads putting off women in particular I think that's important to take into mind and I know from talking to infrasisters which is a campaign group in the Lothians that there are routes that women simply do not feel safe using and they will not do that for major parts of the year because we need better cycling and better lighting particularly during the winter months when basically people cannot cycle home safely at night and it's also some of our routes are not ideal for walking either so we go back to the money our cash-strapped local authorities for our existing roads and pavements which are not as safe as they should be as well as putting in the new infrastructure which is absolutely critical and that's where more dedicated cycle spaces and routes to make people feel safer and encourage them to walk and cycle for more and more of their journeys and that's a key issue that the Scottish Government needs to address if we're going to deliver on the ambition to reduce car travel by 20% there was a really good cross-party group Transport Report that I think is definitely worth the minister reading and I think it's about safe affordable reliable choices we debated buses recently and that's also part of the issue about moving to active travel because it's about people walking part of the route getting a bus for part of the route it's about people coming into our towns and cities with better options so park and ride on the edge of the city and then having faster routes into town for buses and also better routes for cycles and if you try google maps sometimes in Edinburgh and Glasgow it can be faster to cycle a lot of those routes definitely faster than buses and when you think about parking it can be as close as driving so I think there's a culture shift we need to deliver and we need to make sure that we have employers helping deliver that culture change and think about the public sector as employers so in this place cycling is definitely encouraged and we've not got a lot of space downstairs so you need to have the infrastructure now and in the future I think there's been a superb amount of work and members across the chamber have talked about people who work in our communities to give people access to active travel whether it's voluntary organisations like ILREC and my own city giving people from ethnic minority communities access to walking and cycling confidence and social opportunities or the bike station you have met at the weekend which helps to give people access to affordable bikes teaches them how to look after them which I found very useful repair skills but they've also got a bike library so that enables parents to pass on the bike when it's not big enough for their kid anymore but get a new one and those kind of projects are crucial so there's much more we need to do and it cannot be on off the 10% target is critical going forward because we've been debating cycling in this parliament for over two decades now this is not something new and the thing that is going to shift is when we move to electric vehicles they are going to be really expensive to buy bikes are slightly more expensive but cars we need active travel in place now and we need interchanges for buses, for trains and decent routes it's a now issue it's not for 10 years hence thank you I now call on Liam Kerr to close on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives around eight minutes please thank you notwithstanding John Swinney's contribution there was much positivity during this afternoon's debate members have queued up to recognise the benefits of active travel such as lower likelihood of conditions such as diabetes and hypertension mental health benefits cleaner air the promotion of environmentally friendly behaviours and benefits for the community traffic congestion and Sustrans added in a persuasive submission the reduced cancer related mortality risk from regular cycling and a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease and Friends of the Earth Scotland flagged the economic argument saying a major investment in public transport could create around 22,000 direct jobs and 416,000 indirect jobs while Mercedes Bialba raised that it can save money so the case for more active travel has been made out and as Graham Simpson said at the outset all of us in this chamber back greater investment in active travel however the debate has introduced some caveats to that positivity because what has also come across this afternoon are questions around how prepared the Scottish government is to actually deliver this it actually started even before the debate with the minister inserting a rather snarky false equivalence with the rest of the UK something which he doubled down on on an intervention on Graham Simpson and then in an otherwise useful and interesting contribution particularly around planning by Fiona Hyslop she randomly started having a go at the UK government but you see the unamended motion talks about the government's commitment to reduce car kilometres by 20% by 2030 but the motion fails to mention that the Scottish government have no idea how this will be achieved and Russell Findlay actually flagged up that car kilometres have gone up in recent years Brian Whittle flagged that the government has started with reducing cars before dealing with high quality neighbourhoods and public transport in some way to explain in this and all of that was brought home in that even though we heard from Graham Simpson that the CPG on sustainable transport produced a report on this in November with five recommendations when I asked the net zero cabinet secretary exactly one month ago in committee how the Scottish government intended to meet the target to reduce car kilometres by 20% she said she wouldn't have any detail until the draft climate change plan in November so at the moment there is no idea no plan and I'm afraid no chance which is why our amendment demanding the Scottish government set out in detail how it plans to achieve the 20% reduction is so important I will grateful to Liam Kerr for giving way doesn't Mr Kerr think that the chances of achieving that objective might be helped by the £20 million transformation fund going directly to local authorities and regional transport partnerships and that's the very wording that his silly amendment is trying to delete Liam Kerr what I would say to John Swinney is yes of course money is going to help but you cannot do that the government cannot do that without a plan and the problem is of which he was deputy minister for so long comes to this chamber with no plans and that's why it will fail I'll make some progress please many members how long have I got for that you can get the time back I'm grateful to Liam Kerr for giving way because I think his reaction to my point illustrates one of the dilemmas here on the one hand the conservators come here unprepared to increase tax but wanting more spending they come here demanding that we empower local authorities and then they demand we tell them what to do doesn't that just tell Parliament that conservators are hypocrites on these issues I'm afraid that rather confused intervention from Mr Swinney can be responded to very simply by saying cuts the waste come back with a plan and then maybe we can actually deliver a 20% reduction many members including Beatrice Twisher brought up the very modest rise in cycling and she and others flagged the state of the roads not potholes but craters according to Russell Finlay and asked how on earth we can encourage people to cycle to walk when they're in that state we can't and the evidence for that was a contribution from Christine Graham she tried cycling but was knocked off and lost confidence and I'm afraid that is very powerful contribution and all too common and the minister rightly said in his opening that if we want to increase active travel it has to be easier I will Christine Graham I'm delighted you're concerned for my wellbeing but it wasn't a pothole it was a motorist Liam Kerr forgive me I thought I said that on the road but thank you for the clarification because what the minister was saying in his opening was that if we want to increase active travel it has to be easier and safer to walk, scoot or cycle to school and he suggested rightly some modifications yet one of the biggest challenges that we've heard about faced by councils when helping to deliver active travel schemes is the fact that these can be big ticket items at a time when they've never been in the process as the labour amendment which we'll vote for makes clear and it was flagged to us in the submission from Sustrans which was highlighted by Brian Whittle that councils not only lack central government funding but also have difficulties in securing match funding that's required to be shortlisted for projects and then as the net zero committee found there is a jarring disconnect members could we have less sedentary commentary please and properly funding public services now we had examples throughout the afternoon but in the north east region Angus council has a 60 million pound black hole in its finances and it's currently considering whether to spend tens of millions of rings fenced transport Scotland money to turn old railway tracks into footpaths where people have been walking for decades but meanwhile can't afford to lift trees that fell and blocked the Cromby country path 19 months ago in Storm Arwen but that's hardly surprising given that my power my intervention earlier the Scottish government doesn't know how much it needs to deliver this the minister's response to my question how much is needed to achieve what we need was the skies the limit which is extraordinary given they've quantified 33 billion pounds to decarbonised buildings so when it wants to it can quantify this and I think therefore the government does need to put in the work that Evelyn Tweed said we needed to achieve what we all want the final point is one that I don't think featured enough today but was brought up by Beatrice Wishart and a couple of others it's easy to talk about active travel and more public transport use in central belt cities but it's not so easy in rural Aberdeenshire Ayrshire or Angus if the government wants active travel and to get behaviour change it has to address the issue set out in the submission from Closer and it's more likely to engage in active travel than rural residents and these should therefore be considered separately in relation to outcomes and policy decisions so Presiding Officer we absolutely back the sentiment of the debate today and we associate ourselves with the positive comments of the minister and their aims and objectives but we must recognise the challenges inherent in achieving this the challenges to councils as delivery partners the challenges from government aims not backed up by plans and funding and the challenges of ensuring we treat different groups of people such as rural dwellers and those with protected characteristics in a bespoke manner that's what the amendment in Graham Simpson's name seeks to do and that's why it should be supported thank you thank you Mr Kerr and I now call on Minister Patrick Harvie to close on behalf of the Scottish Government and if the minister were able to take us to decision time that would be most helpful thank you Officer thank you let me begin first of all by thanking of course members for contributing to the debate today and in particular to those members including Graham Simpson, Mercedes Valver Beatrice Wishart and Mark Ruskell who chose to use part of their contribution to offer their best wishes to Kevin Stewart in light of his announcement today I hope that's something that the whole chamber will join together in wishing him very well in recovering from the issues that he's been facing it's clear also that there's a broad consensus on the benefits that active travel can bring even if not all members are quite willing to accept the reality that this now comes with a higher level of political commitment and a higher level of funding than ever before I won't have time to address every member's contribution but let me start with those who were moving amendments Graham Simpson started with a personal example of how active travel can end up using local businesses of one kind or another with a bit more cash going over their tills I think that's something that we need to recognise that not just a change of culture in our roads but something that can benefit small businesses when they see that greater footfall from active travel he also reflected on the fact that we do need to see a change in driver behaviour in many parts of the country however I have to say that much of his amendment does delete a significant amount of the motion including the recognition of the level of funding that we're putting in such as the active travel transformation fund so we won't be able to support that amendment I know that the Conservatives don't necessarily like hearing fair comparisons with funding in the rest of the UK but even in terms of Scottish context this is a higher level of commitment to active travel than Scotland has seen by some margin and the Scottish Government's determined to continue that I'll certainly look into the specific local projects that he mentioned but it is relevant here that the clear commitment to long-term increased investments such as the active travel transformation fund direct to local authorities, this is something that will help them to have confidence in increasing their capacity and skills to deliver active travel projects Mercedes-Balba also offered support for our active travel objectives and I share her view of the need for example to address congestion and air pollution, I hope that we're all able to welcome the ground-breaking progress that's been made in putting the first low-emissions zone into place, it will be only the first and it should be only the first Mercedes-Balba also restated many of the multiple benefits from active travel from reduced greenhouse gas emissions improved road safety nature recovery that comes with quieter streets and cleaner air, public health and much much more and our arguments on the cost of transport are important here as well let's recognise that while active travel is the cheapest way of getting about if the cost of the repair that you face having to make to your bike is so much more than the cost of tomorrow's bus ticket it may force you back on to a more expensive and less accessible form of transport to make sure that we're addressing that access to bikes issue as well that's what the Scottish Government is taking forward Members know that the free bikes pilot was taken forward to develop the best models of giving free bikes to young people because one size won't fit all and we're also working with Bike for Good on the option of a bike subscription model and later this year with Cycling UK will be launching an open fund to support bike share schemes because there are multiple ways of giving people access to bikes not just ownership I do have to say that her amendment finishes I'll give way a member at the back Emma Harper I thank the minister for giving way she's a really quick intervention would he acknowledge that electronic bikes are a good way of getting folk on to bicycling that may need a bit of nudging to get out outdoors and will he also acknowledge that there are many ways that we can increase the range of bikes and active travel vehicles that people can access and they have potential not just for changing the way people move about but e-cargo bikes also have huge potential for changing the way that goods move about so that people can access and they have potential not just for changing the way people move about but also for changing the way that goods move about as well the Labour amendment did finish with a point that we can't support slightly unreasonably cherry picking the data to compare active travel to school with the previous year which was the same report recognises strongly impacted by Covid there was a particular impact from the pandemic on school travel so I don't think it's a reasonable comparison with that particular year the fact is that we now have higher levels of active travel to school than pre-pandemic and it's that long-term improvement that long-term trend that we are determined to continue to make progress with I just want to clarify so is the minister saying he's unable to support the amendment which notes a report and the findings in that report because he doesn't like the findings it's certainly not because I don't like the findings I think that the amendment slightly misrepresents the findings the report itself said that in 2020 and 2021 the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on schools was a substantial additional factor so I don't think it's reasonable to present that as though it's a reduction in active travel to school more generally several members mentioned the urban rural issues here including Evelyn Tweed Beatrice Wishart and others and it is true that for emissions reduction alone it may be that the easiest way to get that quickly is through busy routes often in urban areas and they can achieve high levels of modal shift but I don't think it's enough to imagine that urban areas see active travel and cycling for transport and emissions reduction and rural areas see it only for recreational I don't think that's a reasonable way forward it isn't true and it doesn't recognise the demand that there is for active travel in rural areas and in smaller towns and so I hope members will welcome the successful bids including from Shetland for the active travel transformation fund and from other rural and remote areas several members also mentioned their local projects either infrastructure projects or local charities doing excellent creative work to encourage active travel I'll be happy to visit as many of these particular fan of the bike bus movement one of the most joyful ways of encouraging and demonstrating the appetite for active travel and I think John Swinney also talked about the perception of safety as well his description of those issues of perception of safety I can well recognise it's one of the things that did hold me back from getting back on a bike in Glasgow was the perception of safety he was right also to say that on climate action we are approaching the stage where very challenging tasks ahead of us need to be taken if we're going to get back on track with the climate targets and there are those who will the end but they don't will the means and we do need to challenge that sometimes active travel can be polarized sometimes opportunistically opposed even gets caught up sometimes in the culture wars nonsense like conspiracy theories around neighbourhoods and low emission zones so we need to challenge that perception as well I want to also just finally reflect on Ben Macpherson's comments about Edinburgh how it might have changed for the worse as a city if it had done what others did in indulging too much in the road building obsession of the 1960s this is what the active travel debate should be about not just one particular bike lane on one particular route but a long-term vision of what kind of cities, towns and communities of all sizes we want to live in in 10, 20, 30 years and I hope that we can bring that positive vision forward it will require on-going investment and that is tough particularly in times of heightened pressures on resources and a willingness to challenge and change the status quo but our approach to how we deliver active travel is preparing the ground for the record investment that we're committing to investment that will lead to healthier communities generate jobs reduce costs on household budgets and revitalise local economy I'm afraid I'm coming to the end and I need to wind up revitalise our local economies that are in many places still in recovery from the Covid pandemic if we're going to ensure that we've got a fit for purpose delivery model and that we've got active travel to meet those challenges and capitalise on the opportunities we have undertaken a review of our whole approach in the delivery models the transformation fund is a vital first step in this and further changes that we'll follow are going to also require strong leadership not only support and funding from the Scottish Government but a strong approach to working collaboratively with our delivery partners on something that Mark Ruskell said he said that much of the progress that we're making is only possible because of a movement a movement of people demanding change looking to reclaim their places for people instead of for vehicles I think that's entirely true I don't think the Scottish Government on its own can deliver this without that community leadership that we can empower around the country so I want to finish by encouraging members to continue to engage with their local communities together we can ensure that the transformation of active travel reaches across Scotland and the benefits are felt in every city town, village and household to do that we're going to need that joined up approach we're going to need that working together between the Scottish Government, local authorities and communities to address all of the issues that members have mentioned and a great deal more besides again thank members for their contribution to this debate and encourage members to take the opportunities that the funding increases in active travel from the Scottish Government bring to their communities and what would their communities to create that leadership and bring forward excellent projects that we can fund for the future thank you very much that concludes the debate on active travel transformation it's now time to move on to the next item of business which is consideration of motion number 9329 in the name of Mary McCallan on the appointment of board members to environmental standard Scotland and I call on Mary McCallan to move the motion thank you cabinet secretary the question on this motion will be put at decision time and there are four questions to be put as a result of today's business the first is the amendment 9328.2 in the name of Graham Simpson which seeks to amend motion 9328 in the name of Patrick Harvie on active travel transformation be agreed are we all agreed the Parliament is not agreed therefore we will move to vote and there will be a short suspension to allow members to access the digital voting system