Active Travel England to help deliver £200m for walking & cycling schemes

The Government has announced £200 million for new walking and cycling schemes across England.

New executive agency Active Travel England will oversee the delivery of 134 first-rate schemes, which include new footways, cycle lanes and pedestrian crossings across 46 local authorities outside London.

These include new junctions and pedestrian crossings in Liverpool, new segregated cycle lanes across the north-east and a new “travel corridor” in Gloucestershire with reduced traffic and high-quality cycle routes.

19 authorities will also receive a share of £1.5 million for “mini-Holland” feasibility studies, to assess how the areas could be as pedestrian and cycle-friendly as their Dutch city equivalents.

The government has also pledged £35 million to improve the quality, safety and accessibility of the National Cycle Network, a UK-wide network of paths and routes for walking, cycling or wheeling managed by the independent charity Sustrans. The new funding will see 44 off-road-sections of the network upgraded to ensure they endure for years to come.

Up to £8 million is going towards a new programme to accelerate the uptake of e-cycles by offering short and long-term loans of e-cycles. The pilot scheme, which will be delivered by Cycling UK, launched earlier this week in Greater Manchester and will be massively beneficial in enabling those with longer or hillier journeys to cycle and access employment opportunities.

Announced in January, Active Travel England has been established to hold the budget and ensure that schemes are delivered. It will inspect finished schemes and ask for funds to be returned for any which have not been completed as promised, or which have not started or finished by the stipulated times.

Active Travel Commissioner Chris Boardman said:

"This is all about enabling people to leave their cars at home and enjoy local journeys on foot or by bike. Active Travel England is going to make sure high-quality spaces for cycling, wheeling and walking are delivered across all parts of England, creating better streets, a happier school run and healthier, more pleasant journeys to work and the shops."