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The Department for Infrastructure are currently undertaking a Consultation for their Active Travel Delivery Plan and Wednesday night's Sustainability & Environment Committee Council meeting saw Councillors agree to submit their consultation response in which they suggested the plans were "rather unambitious"
Active Travel is defined as "Travelling by physically active means such as walking, wheeling, or cycling".
The Council's draft response explained "This is the inevitable direction of travel we will be moving in as a society. The move towards a zero carbon economy will lead to less car users and less traffic on the roads and therefore it is timely to rebalance the street more in favour of pedestrians, cyclists, wheelers and other active travel options.
"This must be carried out in a constructive and sensitive manner to bring people along with the progress and the changes involved."
In the council area the Department have listed four locations with one priority route suggested for Newry, Downpatrick and Newcastle and two priority routes planned for Kilkeel.
The priority route suggested for Newry is from A25 Camlough Road to Needham Bridge via Jennings Park. In the consultation document the Department explain that a 'Priority route' would be expected to be completed in 0-10 Years while other 'Future routes' would take 10+ Years.
The Council reply expresses some concern about the Plan excluding important smaller villages and settlements in particular in rural areas (due to the 5000 population limit used) and is seeking reassurance that these smaller settlements will also be given adequate active travel infrastructure particularly where there are rural schools and other rural amenities and meeting places.
In the Council's Draft reply they added: "We believe the development of Park and Ride combined with Active Travel Hubs for some of our busier towns should also be considered under the 'Connections to Transport' element. These Park and Ride systems should be designed to accommodate car users to park their cars outside a town and travel into towns such as Newcastle for example via public transport or using cycling or walking routes linking them to important amenities."
The Council Consultation reply continued with the Department's suggested Priority route for Newry. "The Council broadly agrees with the aims of the Dfl Active Travel Delivery Plan however it does express some reservations about the planned extent of development over the next 10 years which if this is to be truly transformational seems rather unambitious."
The Consultation reply added "The Council has provided a large amount of proposed routes and local knowledge of potential opportunities to Dfl through the consultation process to date. Many good potential routes have been identified and examined and we look forward to the next stage of seeing more infrastructure being built and developed over the coming years. We hope that the additional routes in these towns which the Council has provided to and discussed with DfI to date will also be considered for development in the near future"
Speaking about their own Active Travel Masterplan their submission said "In addition Newry, Mourne and Down District Council has invested in the development of an Active Travel Masterplan for the District which was completed in 2019 with the help of Sustrans. This Masterplan lays out a strategic approach to active travel and greenway development over the next 10 years plus.
"It also looks at possible interventions and solutions to traffic management and Place development in urban centres and across the district, Extensive Public Consultation and engagement with elected representatives and other organisations took place during the formulation of this Masterplan. Both the Council and DfI's local Active Travel Unit have used NMDC Active Travel Masterplan as a useful guide for planning and developing active travel infrastructure on the ground. We hope that Dfi wil continue to look at this Active Travel Masterplan as a vital and useful guide to developing infrastructure and solutions in our district."
The deadline for consultation responses is 28 February 2025 and anyone who wants to respond can do so via www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk
Because the submission deadline falls before the next full Council meeting in March the submission will be subject to review by Council at that meeting.
