A report presenting the findings and recommendations of the Active Travel Task and Finish Group.

The Committee considered a report that introduced the findings and recommendations of the Active Travel Task and Finish Group, following the completion of the Group’s scrutiny exercise. The report also recommended that appropriate officers conduct a review of the Group’s recommendations and that they submit an evaluation for consideration at a subsequent meeting of the Committee.  The following documents were appended to the report:

• Appendix 1 - Terms of Reference and Membership of the Active Travel Task and Finish Group.
• Appendix 2 - Active Travel Task and Finish Scrutiny Group Report.

The report explained that a councillor-led Task and Finish Group had been established by the SEPT Committee at its meeting on 12 March 2025 (Minute 26 2024-25 refers) at which the Terms of Reference for the Group and its cross-party membership had been agreed. The purpose of the Task and Finish Group had been to scrutinise the implementation of Reading’s Active Travel strategy, a sub-strategy of the Reading Transport Strategy 2040 (the Local Transport Plan for the Borough), and to submit a report setting out its findings and recommendations back to the Committee. 

The report explained that the scrutiny exercise had been conducted in line with the Council’s scrutiny procedure rules. The Task and Finish Group had gathered evidence from Council officers, local community groups (including the Reading Cycle Campaign) and from other local authorities through various means of written correspondence, online and in-person meetings as well as other evidence gathering activities which were summarised in the report. The report stated that Council officers had provided a significant amount of information to the Task and Finish Group throughout the scrutiny process, that covered a wide range of areas that included central Government guidance and funding, the Council’s statutory duties, roles and capacities of teams within the Council, previous decisions taken by Committees and detailed information regarding specific designs of active travel schemes. The report explained that there was an opportunity to implement recommendations from the Group through the refresh of the Council’s adopted Local Cycling Walking and Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP), which would be reviewed in the context of the challenging financial circumstances faced by the Council and the need to prioritise available resources, both financial and in terms of staffing, to the most effective way in order to meet the overall objectives set out in the Reading Transport Strategy 2040.

The Active Travel Task and Finish Group’s findings and recommendations were set out in its Scrutiny Group Report, a copy of which was attached at Appendix 2. The Task and Finish Group had found that, whilst a strong commitment to active travel existed and that good progress in Reading towards modal shift had been made, the effective implementation of active travel schemes faced certain operational challenges and that there was an opportunity for local improvement to allow the Council to better meet its strategic goals. At the same time the report acknowledged the financial situation faced by the Council. It had therefore not made any recommendations for unfunded expenditure but instead looked at how processes could be improved and how existing funding could potentially be better utilised and prioritised. The report included 12 recommendations, categorised into three themes, set out under the following headings:

Scheme Design And Prioritisation

1.             Avoidance of missing links;

2.             Increased use of wands for better value versus effect ratio;

3.             Considered use of shared spaces where appropriate;

4.             Continuous footways and informal side-road zebra crossings;

5.             Cyclist-level traffic lights;

6.             Pavement parking and accessibility for disabled pedestrians;

Funding

7.             Making best use of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Section 106 (S106) Contributions;

8.             Consideration of other sources of income, including demand management measures;

Implementation

9.             Reprioritisation of the Waiting Restrictions Review Programme;

10.          Setting out a clear pathway from scheme request to implementation;

11.          Embedding active travel across the Council;

12.          Senior leadership oversight and project management to ensure delivery at pace.

At the meeting it was noted that, in addition to requiring consultation with the Lead Councillor for Climate Strategy and Transport, the Terms of Reference should have also included reference to the Executive Director for Economic Growth and Neighbourhood Services also consulting with the Lead Councillor for Planning and Assets, when it came to deciding on the acceptance and/or priority given to the Task and Finish Group’s recommendations. Consequently, the Committee agreed that the Terms of Reference be adjusted so that they included reference to the Lead Councillor for Planning and Assets being consulted by officers when they prepared their evaluation report in response to the Task and Finish Group’s findings.

At the meeting the Lead Councillor for Climate Strategy and Transport said that, to continue the positive cross-party work of the Task and Finish Group, he would be requesting that officers discussed the content and findings of their evaluation report with members of the Task and Finish Group prior to the evaluation report being considered by the Committee.

The Committee also agreed to include a specific reference to the ROWIP (Rights of Way Improvement Plan) within paragraph 4.6 of the Task and Finish Group’s Scrutiny Group Report and for the report to be updated accordingly.

Resolved -

(1)           That the findings and recommendations of the Active Travel Task and Finish Scrutiny Group, as set out in Appendix 2, be noted;

(2)           That appropriate officers review the findings and recommendations of the Task and Finish Group and provide an evaluation report to a future meeting of the Committee;

(3)           That the Terms of Reference be adjusted to ensure that the Lead Councillor for Climate Strategy and Transport and the Lead Councillor for Planning and Assets were both consulted when officers considered the acceptance/prioritisation given to the Task and Finish Group’s recommendations;

(4)           That paragraph 4.6 of the Task and Finish Group’s Scrutiny Group Report (Appendix 2) be updated to insert: “and ROWIP (Rights of Way Improvement Plan).”, at the end of the sentence that read: “Currently, the various request lists and the CIL request lists include the Request for Traffic Management Measures, the Cycle Forum request list and the CIL request list, as well as the LCWIP.”