Summary

Strategic Themes

Six strategic themes for the Framework have been identified based on feedback from stakeholder consultation, taking account of the wider policy context and through review of good practice examples. These themes illustrate the overarching approach to cycling for transport in Scotland.

Safe Cycling Infrastructure

Effective Resourcing

Fair Access

Training & Education

Network Planning

Monitoring

Delivery Plan at a Glance

Strategic Theme 1 – Safe Cycling Infrastructure

It is clear from UK and international evidence that the provision of high quality, safe cycling networks in both urban and rural areas is key to increasing rates of cycling for transport. This is consistent with the findings of Cycling Scotland’s 2015 International Comparator Study of what has brought about a change in cycling levels in other European cities and countries. To achieve this, we will work with local authorities to prioritise investment in the creation of connected cycling infrastructure protected from traffic and integrated with public transport. The 4^th iteration of the National Planning Framework (NPF4), supports the delivery of cycling infrastructure in new developments. Including direct, protected links to existing routes, electric bike charging and safe and convenient cycle parking.

Within the Second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR 2), we have committed an additional £50 million to ‘Active Freeways’ in 2025-26 which will involve identification and design development of the strategic active travel network, to provide protected active travel routes on main travel corridors to city and town centres and major trip attractors linking communities throughout Scotland. We will begin feasibility and design work on suitable sites in 2023-24.        

We know from stakeholder feedback, that it is often difficult for local authorities to build new cycling infrastructure quickly. New regulations were passed in 2021 to allow roads authorities to use Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETROs) to introduce experimental schemes following 7 days’ notice. These new regulations have been positively received, however there has been an inconsistent application of these new regulations across local authorities. We will work with local authorities to ensure these new regulations are used to their full extent and continue to engage with stakeholders to ensure the regulatory environment is conducive to delivering cycling infrastructure at pace.

Protected cycling infrastructure is not possible or desirable on every road and, in some locations such as residential streets, protected infrastructure is not feasible due to available space, cost and other factors. As a result, it will be necessary to implement a combination of different measures that may include bespoke infrastructure, a network of protected routes and lower speed limits. Cycling infrastructure isn’t just about building cycle lanes, and the benefits of more cycling don’t just to accrue to people on bikes. So we will ensure that we maximise the opportunities to attract additional resource from public, private and community sectors to surround routes with green space and improve place making and biodiversity.

To ensure that local authorities have the flexibility they need when it comes to designing schemes we will provide ongoing development and governance of co-produced design guidance, including on the improvement of existing routes and the need to future proof infrastructure for emerging technologies such as e-cycles and cargo cycles. And we will develop a national approach to the creation of quiet road/cycle friendly roads with everyday journeys prioritised.

Strategic Theme 2 – Effective Resourcing

The delivery of our ambitious vision for cycling for transport requires increased levels of investment and for this investment to be sustained over a period of time. International evidence (Cycling Scotland International Comparator Study; The Pedestrian Pound; Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy – Active Travel Investment Models) suggests that sustained investment of £30-40 per head of population is needed to create the necessary change and ensure that dense well connected networks are produced. In response, we will increase the active travel budget to £320 million or 10% of the transport budget, whichever is greater, by 2024-25. This will equate to approximately £58 per head, which is significantly more than the rest of the UK and compares favourably with our continental neighbours such as The Netherlands and Denmark.

The experience of leading cycling nations suggests that alongside investment in infrastructure, having the capacity and capability to deliver cycling networks is key. For example, Finland’s National Strategy for Walking and Cycling includes a commitment to appropriate levels of financial and human resources, and stakeholder feedback highlighted the lack of funding certainty as a barrier.

Increased investment in active travel infrastructure therefore needs to consider the cost of people and skills and not just materials. Through this Framework, we want to ensure the appropriate level of resource, including for staffing and maintenance, is in place to develop and deliver active travel strategies and ensure that cycling for transport is prioritised appropriately. It is essential that local authorities have the support necessary to increase the capacity and capabilities of their workforce, with a focus on skills development and long term funding.

Strategic Theme 3 – Fair Access

Enabling access to cycling by all was a key theme of the evidence review and stakeholder engagement. For example, Sydney’s Cycling Strategy and Action Plan commits to ensuring that its programmes and communications are inclusive and respond to the needs of its diverse community by reflecting the diversity of people who ride in the city and acknowledging the significant gender gap in uptake.

So whilst we know that to be successful we need to build much more cycling infrastructure much more quickly. We also need to ensure, through co-production and effective community engagement, that the broadest possible range of needs are accounted for at the concept/design stage. We will therefore review funding criteria to ensure that fair access is appropriately weighted and improving accessibility is given an appropriate level of priority. And to ensure that new infrastructure can be used as widely as possible, we will expand access to cycles, including adaptive cycles, e-cycles and cycle share.

In Scotland, household access to bikes scales with income. According to Transport and Travel in Scotland 2017, whilst 34% of all Scottish households have access to one or more bikes, this falls to just 16% for households with an annual income under £10,000. So it is fundamentally important that we target our access to bikes initiatives to maximise impact and help redress that balance. Enabling inclusive access to cycling is crucial to protecting communities and groups whose incomes limit access to cars.

The pilot phase of the free bikes for schoolchildren programme ended in 2022 and we will use the learning from the pilots to develop a partnership approach to deliver free bikes to children of school age, targeted at low income households.

Strategic Theme 4 – Training and Education

In countries where cycling for transport levels are high, there is strong and sustained Government investment in active travel behaviour change. Finland’s National Strategy for Walking and Cycling acknowledges that a major shift in transport habits cannot be achieved through new cycling routes alone. In Scotland, the Smarter Choices Smarter Places scheme has shown the benefits of supporting behaviour change.

Alongside our investment in infrastructure we will continue to invest in complementary programmes such as cycle training, and focus behaviour change efforts on establishing habits linked to journeys that people most regularly make, for example on the school run, to use local amenities or as part of a multi modal journey.

Through this Framework we will provide a comprehensive cycle training offer for all life stages, including learning to ride in pre-school, learning to ride on-road through school Bikeability training, and for adults of all ages, including cycle awareness training.

The review of CAPS found that events to support cycling to schools and workplaces and promote cycling more generally were important to increase cycling levels. Therefore, alongside our training offer, we will develop a long-term communications plan that represents cycling as something that anyone can do, including with assistance/adaption and is a transport mode that brings many benefits to Scotland.

We need to take people with us on this journey of change. When delivering new cycling infrastructure, the process should excite the local community and make them confident and enthusiastic about using it. Stakeholder feedback consistently highlights the importance of good public engagement, communications and local political leadership, and international evidence backs up this conclusion. Under this Framework, we expect local authorities to provide communities with the tools they need to engage effectively and shape their own local areas. To support this, we will provide local authorities with resources, including guidance and best practice examples, to enable effective local community engagement.

Strategic Theme 5 –  Network Planning

We need to ensure coherence and consistency in the planning and delivery of cycling networks across the country. In Ireland, the Government mandates that every local authority adopts a high-quality cycling policy, carries out an assessment of their roads network and develops cycle network plans. In Wales, the Government requires local authorities to prepare detailed active travel network plans for every settlement which is linked to the provision of Government funding for active travel routes.

Through this Framework, local authorities in Scotland will be asked to produce active travel strategies , setting out plans to improve active travel networks and facilities to 2030. These strategies should include detailed mapping and use an evidence led approach to network planning. In March 2023 we published guidance to support local authorities in producing these strategies.

We will use these active travel strategies to create a network blueprint for Scotland, so that everybody can see at a glance the current and planned network of cycling infrastructure in every local authority area, links to and from public transport interchanges and services where the carriage of bikes is included. This will be a crucial resource to help plug gaps in provision and aid regional coordination and cooperation.

Strategic Theme 6 –  Monitoring

As our strategic cycling network grows and develops, it is vitally important that we are able to gather data on key metrics, such as usage, quality, distance and others. We already have a comprehensive monitoring network in place but we need to continue to strengthen the existing evidence base with more data, and more robust data. Through this Framework we will expand and align monitoring and reporting of cycling levels at local, city, regional and national level.

We will use our improved and expanded monitoring network to monitor and evaluate the impact of active travel investment and embed learning in future investment decisions, enabling local authorities to act with the confidence that they are making the right interventions in the right places, supported by the best available evidence.