Greater Manchester has been awarded nearly £3.4 million from the government and Active Travel England’s Capability & Ambition Fund to support walking and cycling infrastructure projects across the city-region.
Funding received represents 10% more than the city-region’s initial allocation following a high-quality bid submission in autumn 2022. Across England, £32.9 million of total funding was announced on 2nd January for local authorities across the country to support projects to encourage more people to walk or cycle for shorter journeys over the next year.
Dame Sarah Storey, Active Travel Commissioner for Greater Manchester, commented: “This funding announcement is a vote of confidence in Greater Manchester’s plans for active travel.
“In November, I launched my refreshed mission for active travel – to ensure walking, wheeling and cycling is possible for everyone. This new funding will be used across the region to further develop active travel work in 2023.
“From helping increase cycle hire facilities to building a comprehensive and cohesive pipeline of high-quality schemes, and also to ensure there is better publicity to ensure people can use existing active travel routes.
“I look forward to working with the Mayor, local authority leaders, the Transport Commissioner and community groups to continue the work that has been underway to make Greater Manchester the best place in the country to walk, wheel and cycle.”
Elsewhere,
Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) has secured almost £3.5 million funding to support the better design, planning and development of cycling, wheeling and walking schemes in region.
The grant from Active Travel England’s Capability Fund will be used by TfWM, which is part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and local council partners to increase the resource and expertise required to deliver the region’s ambitious active travel plans.
The funding will deliver green jobs and enable the West Midlands to ensure its new cycle routes and lanes and projects are of the highest quality, meeting latest Government design standards.
Funding of £822,920 for technical expertise to help and inspire more people get walking or cycling short distances has been awarded to the Combined Authority and its delivery partners Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council.
The bid included funding for an active travel advocate for the Combined Authority area, a role that would work with the proposed active travel centre-of-excellence at Cambridgeshire County Council to push forward active travel and create a new Active Travel website for residents.
The support means delivery partners Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council can develop active travel projects from the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans and produce a plan of one, three, and ten year projects to nudge people into being more active.
Creating a cycling and walking network that’s better connected, safer and accessible to all in Portsmouth is also one step closer following the funding award from Active Travel England, Department of Transport.
Portsmouth City Council has been awarded £75,000 by Active Travel England to invest in working with communities to design improvements to the city’s existing cycling and walking network to improve the connectivity and make it safer for everyone.
