Road safety grant 2022 to 2023

The purpose of the guidance is to confirm the priorities that Welsh Government will support through the road safety grants to local authorities in Wales in 2022-23. 

The guidance also sets out the process by which local authorities should submit applications for consideration by the Welsh Government and how they will be assessed.

In your applications you must demonstrate that you have followed the Welsh Government Transport Appraisal Guidance (WelTAG).

The application forms have been amended to reflect the WelTAG approach.

The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 requires public bodies to think more about the long-term, to work better with people, communities and each other, look to prevent problems and take a more joined-up approach.

The 2015 Act places a duty on public bodies to seek to achieve the well-being goals and objectives in everything they do.

Llwybr Newydd - A New Wales Transport Strategy (WTS) is our strategy for the future of transport in Wales. It sets out our ambitions for the next 20 years and our priorities for the next 5 years. This forms the basis of the grant objectives.

In your applications you must demonstrate that you have developed your proposal using the five ways of working and that your proposal maximises your contribution to the WTS ambitions that are aligned to the well-being goals.

This guidance deals only with the road safety capital and revenue grants. In your applications you must demonstrate how your proposals will meet these grant objectives

Road safety capital

Funding has been re-prioritised this year for the 20mph project. Those authorities with existing multi-year schemes are invited to apply for continued funding. We are not inviting bids for new schemes this financial year. 

Subject to confirmation of budgets, the indicative total funding available for existing road safety capital schemes across Wales for FY2022-23 is expected to be approximately £1,000,000. 

Existing schemes will need to meet the grant objectives outlined below.

• strive to eliminate people killed and seriously injured on roads in Wales
• by targeting interventions at locations, routes or communities where there is evidence of road traffic collisions resulting in KSI casualties or where significant numbers of slight injury collisions have occurred
• prioritising high risk and vulnerable groups
• by developing schemes that target vulnerable groups as identified in the road safety framework
• by developing innovative schemes that take a proactive approach to improving safety for motorcyclists where there is real or perceived risk
• improve community safety
  • by addressing community concerns and perceived dangers
  • by ensuring that the scheme has been developed with all road users in mind.
• local authorities should ensure that the scheme or intervention has been developed following community engagement. Authorities should consult with the communities and stakeholders affected by the scheme and report on the process followed and feedback obtained.

You are required to seek the approval of the Wales Road Casualty Reduction Partnership (GoSafe) for any schemes that include the purchase, replacement or movement of safety cameras.

Police approval is required for all schemes and must to be sought before application submission.

When designing schemes, local authorities must also consider their responsibilities under Section 6: The Biodiversity and Resilience of Ecosystems Duty under the Environment (Wales) Act 2016.

The duty requires that public authorities must seek to maintain and enhance biodiversity so far as consistent with the proper exercise of their functions, and in so doing, promote the resilience of ecosystems. This is for example highly relevant to the treatment of verges and planting schemes as part of transport projects. Guidance on the duty can be found here: Environment (Wales) Act 2016: biodiversity and resilience of ecosystems.

Funding will be allocated up to the amount awarded for actual eligible expenditure incurred on an accepted scheme. Funding will be capped at the level of the award and the local authority will be required to carry the risk of any overspend that may occur. Where increased costs arise due to exceptional circumstances, outside the local authority’s control, Welsh Government may consider making additional funding available.

Local authorities will be expected to deliver the schemes accepted in accordance with their applications. Reports on progress will be required at intervals throughout the 2022-23 financial year and further information will be included in the award letter. You are also required to monitor road safety schemes for 3 years after implementation to monitor the effect on collision and casualty figures.

Relevant Welsh Government officials may request meetings or site visits to discuss scheme progress as considered appropriate. Failure to demonstrate appropriate progress with delivery may result in funding offers being withdrawn and funding claimed up to that point being recovered from a local authority.

Schemes that include match funding will attract additional scores in the appraisal process, with schemes that demonstrate greater levels of match funding scoring higher.  

Applications must clearly identify the levels and sources of available match funding and confirm this will be in place to ensure the completion of the works within the 2022-23 financial year. Match funding may be from internal or external sources.

Subject to confirmation of budgets, the indicative total funding available for road safety revenue schemes across Wales for FY2022-23 is expected to be approximately £1,600,000.

Applications for road safety revenue funding will be considered within the calculated allocation for each local authority.

Revenue funding will be allocated by use of a formula based on latest available population numbers (60%) and casualty numbers of those killed or seriously injured (40%).

There is no restriction on the number of initiatives you can seek funding for. Priority should be given to child pedestrian training, National Standards cycle training and interventions targeting high risk groups of young people and motorcyclists.

Applications for motorcycle training and education schemes need to be submitted as single, separate applications. We will not accept applications that cover a suite of measures.

Applications for National Cycle Training must be guided by the National Standard for Cycle Training, published by the Department for Transport.

Training should be delivered up to Level 2 as a minimum requirement.  We acknowledge that some learners may not be ready to progress from Level 1 to Level 2.  Consideration should be given to whether additional training could be provided to enable individuals to progress to L2. 

Authorities should also consider whether balance bike training and pre-rider sessions would be beneficial as well as considering which year groups are offered training. Top-up funding will be available at £15 per child to allow for additional training where children need this to progress to Level 2.

Children who do not undertake Level 2 cycle training with the rest of their class/cohort, should, where possible, be made aware of other opportunities to undertake the training, e.g. the following school year, holiday clubs, family sessions.

We encourage authorities to offer adult and family cycle training where possible.  Please note that authorities may also apply for funding to cover instructor training.  In exceptional circumstances where children cannot receive L2 training, a reduced fee should be claimed.

Applications for innovative new approaches are welcomed, especially those which will increase the uptake of active travel and where new approaches are supported by a clear evidence base.  Specific plans for evaluation will be required, as will be a commitment to share lessons learnt with partners

Applications for motorcycling assessment and training schemes will only be accepted for Enhanced Rider Schemes (ERS) or where a specific evaluation has been completed.  First responder schemes are exempt from this requirement

A maximum that may be claimed per trainee will be applied for the approved initiatives. When submitting your application you will need to specify how many people will be trained and payment of grant will be subject to training delivery across the financial year.

For these priority areas, there is no requirement to submit supporting evidence, or key benefits to support intervention, but local monitoring procedures will be required. 

Applications for schemes outside of the priority areas will need to be supported by appropriate evidence (see the revenue grant assessment criteria for details). 

Staff costs will only be funded if they are delivering a specific approved project, for instance to coordinate child pedestrian training. We will not fund general road safety officer posts.

Applications will not be accepted for general advertising and media campaigns. Local authorities may use a proportion of their grant for specific promotional work to ensure take up of courses - this will form part of the maximum costs per trainee. Reusable equipment required to deliver training will be funded, but not promotional items given for attending courses.

Local authorities are encouraged to collaborate on revenue projects, particularly where this will result in efficiencies, the sharing of good practice or where cross county or border funding benefits road safety in Wales. The lead local authority must be identified for each scheme. Funding will be allocated to the lead local authority.

Where revenue projects are delivered by other partners, we can arrange to pay the grant direct on request. The grant recipient will be responsible for the submission of claims and supporting information.

Funding will be made direct to local authorities and will be available for 2022 to 2023 only. Local authorities should note that Welsh Government is unable to give a commitment for grant support after 2022-23.

Other than in exceptional circumstances by prior agreement, schemes submitted for works funding in 2022-23 should demonstrate that all land issues will be resolved and orders or required permissions are in place to allow works to progress.

Whilst Welsh Government is prepared to fund the cost of land purchase, funding will not be provided in respect of compensation claims arising from the land purchase or from the project itself.

The provision of capital support to schemes is conditional upon local authorities’ commitment to meet future revenue and maintenance costs

All schemes and educational initiatives must be monitored and evaluated. Local authorities are able to include the costs of monitoring for up to 3 years within their funding applications but these must be clearly identified. 

Schemes must be monitored for three years post completion and reported to the Welsh Government annually.  For road safety revenue, quarterly monitoring returns are required and national schemes will require annual reports. 

Further guidance will be provided on reporting processes.

Applications may include costs associated with the promotion of schemes, including signage, materials and events, for up to 3 years after scheme completion. These must be clearly identified.

Local authorities should submit their applications using the relevant template application forms. All schemes will be assessed through an appraisal process.

Local authorities will be responsible for ensuring that delivery remains on schedule and reporting any change to the works programme and/or spend profile. 

For road safety funding, you must apply for revenue and capital on separate forms.

Applications for capital schemes must include a plan showing the scheme in as much detail as possible at application stage and a map showing the scheme context. An OS GB grid reference must also be included.

Supporting documentation will be considered as follows:

• maps and plans in respect of capital applications (these maps and plans must clearly show the proposed measures)
• evaluation reports in support of applications for revenue funding that fall outside of the priority areas.  All reports must be accompanied by an executive summary.
• other supporting information, which you feel is essential to the bid, must be kept to a minimum and be anonymised, where applicable.

Applications will be considered by a panel of Welsh Government Transport officials and relevant external stakeholders as appropriate.

Final decisions on funding will be made by the Deputy Minister for Climate Change.

The assessment criteria for the grants are available separately: Capital Grant application assessment: criteria and weighting.

Applications must be submitted by 7 February 2022.

Electronic copies must be submitted to the relevant Welsh Government contact listed below to: transportplanning@gov.wales

• please keep appendices’ to a minimum. 
• all documents should be submitted in a word format.
• no additional or revised information will be accepted after the above date unless requested by the Welsh Government.

Transport policy advisor: 03000 253150