Healthy, cost-effective travel for millions as walking and cycling projects get the green light
25-05-2022
Millions of people across the country could benefit from cleaner air and cheaper ways to travel and keep active, thanks to £200 million of government funding for new walking and cycling schemes across England announced last week.
The government’s new executive agency Active Travel England, led by Chris Boardman, will oversee the delivery of 134 first-rate schemes, backed by £161 million, which include new footways, cycle lanes and pedestrian crossings across 46 local authorities outside London.
The projects will create new routes and improve existing ones, making it easier and cheaper for people to choose active and green ways of getting around while better connecting communities. 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.
In addition to the £161 million for the 134 local authorities schemes, 19 authorities – including in Nottinghamshire, Hull and Manchester – 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.