Councils are being urged to apply to Active Travel England for a share of a £200 million fund (link is external) which the government says is aimed at making cycling and walking more attractive choices for everyday travel – with the safety of women walking home at night one of the criteria that will be used to evaluate schemes when deciding where the cash will go.

The Department for Transport says that the funding will help make crossings and junctions safer, including around schools, local high streets and on main roads.

The funding, which is open to bids from local authorities in England outside London, is also aimed at improving local transport links, as well as creating new jobs.

Outlining examples of the type of scheme that could win funding, with applications open from today, Active Travel England listed “creating more paths in rural areas, developing safer routes for children to walk to school,” and “improved safety at junctions for people walking and cycling.”

It said that projects, which would be drawn up in consultation with local residents and nearby businesses, would also aim to make streetscapes more inclusive for those using wheelchairs or mobility scooters to get around, with the winning projects being announced later this year.

Mark Harper, Member for Parliament for Forest of Dean and the Secretary of State for Transport, said: “This £200 million investment for hundreds of upgraded routes and paths across the country will help to reduce emissions, boost local economies and create jobs.

“These new schemes will make it safer for children to walk to school and will better connect rural communities, helping more people choose active travel as an affordable and healthy way to get around.”

Besides getting more students cycling, walking or scooting to school in line with the government’s aim of getting 55 per cent of all primary school children doing so by 2035, the announcement also emphasised the need for schemes to take the safety of women into account, citing 2021 research from the Office for National Statistics showing that one in two do not feel safe walking home on darkened streets at night.

Chris Boardman, Active Travel Commissioner for England, commented: “Active travel is convenient, cheap, low carbon and health-giving.

“It’s a choice we need to make sure everyone has. Sometimes it only takes relatively small changes, such as crossings on school routes or convenient places to park a bike, to give us the option to walk, wheel or ride.

“Our job is to help local authorities across the country ensure that everyone has more attractive options for their daily trips and we are excited to help them deliver those options,” he added.

Duncan Dollimore, head of campaigns at Cycling UK, said that the funding was welcome but urged the way in which it is made available to local authorities to be rethought to provide more certainty for the longer term.

Quoted in the Guardian (link is external), he explained: “If the government wants to reach its own targets to increase levels of walking and cycling, it has to move from one-year competitive funding rounds to long-term and secure funding streams, giving councils the confidence and ability to plan and deliver connected networks of active travel routes.”

The funding announced today comes on top of £33 million announced last month to help local authorities across England to build a network of experts in active travel to help them develop cycling and walking schemes.

https://road.cc/content/news/ps200m-available-active-travel-schemes-england-299123

On 06/02/2023 06:49 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> Councils are being urged to apply to Active Travel England for a share of a £200 million fund (link is external) which the government says is aimed at making fairy-cycling and walking more attractive choices for everyday travel – with the safety of women walking home at night one of the criteria that will be used to evaluate schemes when deciding where the cash will go.

In that case, most of it needs to go to London.
>
> The Department for Transport says that the funding will help make crossings and junctions safer, including around schools, local high streets and on main roads.

How?

Are they going to ban fairy-cycles from the areas?

> The funding, which is open to bids from local authorities in England outside London, is also aimed at improving local transport links, as well as creating new jobs.
> Outlining examples of the type of scheme that could win funding, with applications open from today, Active Travel England listed “creating more paths in rural areas, developing safer routes for children to walk to school,” and “improved safety at junctions for people walking and fairy-cycling.”
> It said that projects, which would be drawn up in consultation with local residents and nearby businesses, would also aim to make streetscapes more inclusive for those using wheelchairs or mobility scooters to get around, with the winning projects being announced later this year.
> Mark Harper, Member for Parliament for Forest of Dean and the Secretary of State for Transport, said: “This £200 million investment for hundreds of upgraded routes and paths across the country will help to reduce emissions, boost local economies and create jobs.
> “These new schemes will make it safer for children to walk to school and will better connect rural communities, helping more people choose active travel as an affordable and healthy way to get around.”
> Besides getting more students fairy-cycling, walking or scooting to school in line with the government’s aim of getting 55 per cent of all primary school children doing so by 2035, the announcement also emphasised the need for schemes to take the safety of women into account, citing 2021 research from the Office for National Statistics showing that one in two do not feel safe walking home on darkened streets at night.

And in London, who can blame them?

> Chris Boardman, Active Travel Commissioner for England, commented: “Active travel is convenient, cheap, low carbon and health-giving.
> “It’s a choice we need to make sure everyone has. Sometimes it only takes relatively small changes, such as crossings on school routes or convenient places to park a fairy-bike, to give us the option to walk, wheel or ride.

Are motor-cycles to be encouraged, then?

> “Our job is to help local authorities across the country ensure that everyone has more attractive options for their daily trips and we are excited to help them deliver those options,” he added.
> Duncan Dollimore, head of campaigns at Fairy Cycling UK, said that the funding was welcome but urged the way in which it is made available to local authorities to be rethought to provide more certainty for the longer term.
> Quoted in the Guardian (link is external), he explained: “If the government wants to reach its own targets to increase levels of walking and fairy-cycling, it has to move from one-year competitive funding rounds to long-term and secure funding streams, giving councils the confidence and ability to plan and deliver connected networks of active travel routes.”
> The funding announced today comes on top of £33 million announced last month to help local authorities across England to build a network of experts in active travel to help them develop fairy-cycling and walking schemes.
>
> https://road.cc/content/news/ps200m-available-active-travel-schemes-england-299123

How on Earth would "encouraging" fairy-cyclists make the streets safer
for pedestrians?

Fairy-cyclists are sworn enemies of pedestrians. Just watch (and listen
to) the behaviour of fairy-cyclists at pedestrian crossings...

eburtthebike | 4033 posts | 3 hours ago
2 likes

Duncan Dollimore of CUK, as ever, hits the nail on the head:

"If the government wants to reach its own targets to increase levels of walking and cycling, it has to move from one-year competitive funding rounds to long-term and secure funding streams, giving councils the confidence and ability to plan and deliver connected networks of active travel routes.”

The mistake of having limited funding for a year has been repeated time after time, resulting in rushed, poorly conceived, designed and constructed schemes. We need a long term plan with sustained investment, at least 10% of the transport budget rising to 20% guaranteed for at least ten years.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> eburtthebike | 4033 posts | 3 hours ago
> 2 likes

> The mistake of having limited funding for a year has been repeated time
> after time, resulting in rushed, poorly conceived, designed and
> constructed schemes. We need a long term plan with sustained investment,
> at least 10% of the transport budget rising to 20% guaranteed for at least ten years.

Perhaps raising money from cyclists might help?

Tax on cycles? Licence fee for cyclists?

Take the burden off the taxpayer. For once.

--
Spike

Excellent! That's the heart of it - we've almost always failed at these critical points (link is external) before.

Good, so which town / city is that for then? Presumably at that level they're funding somewhere like Bristol or Manchesterto make a "good enough" complete network (link is external), to "prove it works"? Or maybe somewhere smaller for that money - but somewhere that's already on the path at least?

Wait - that's for the whole of England (minus London)? Is this a share of that same 500 million we've been hearing about for a while now?

Quote:

... including around schools, local high streets and on main roads. ... creating more paths in rural areas, developing safer routes for children to walk to school ... also aimed at improving local transport links, as well as creating new jobs.

Oh dear - is this the usual "Active travel is wonderful! It's so efficient that we can get paradise for the cost of a few tins of paint" level of funding? Wildly unrealistic goals declared given the cash? Spreading little very thin? I really hope I'm wrong but I'm conditioned by previous statements to imagine this draining into the sand. "improving local transport links" (it's going to go on buses and bypasses), "creating new jobs" (for consultants).

Still - shouldn't quibble! I've previously speculated that active travel gets nowhere partly because there aren't the gigantic tempting sums that the motor transport / energy companies have to interest politicians in engaging in graft helping direct their own area / constituents. Probably like any change it's just a competition for political and social interest, as gauged by "cash available".

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> Oh dear - is this the usual "Active travel is wonderful! It's so
> efficient that we can get paradise for the cost of a few tins of paint" level of funding?

‘A few tins of paint’ seems to work pretty well for the 38million motor
vehicles on the road, so why the problem with cyclists swerving about all
over the place?

Just look at how many are killed when ‘joining the road from the pavement’.

ISTM that it isn’t the roads that need to be addressed, it’s cycling and
cyclists.

Perhaps they should be painted in dayglo?

--
Spike

The Department for Transport says that the funding will help make crossings and junctions safer, including around schools, local high streets and on main roads.

Ha Ha! How unbelievable patronising is that. Women in their millions are scorning active travel at night because the poor feeble creatures don't know how to cross the road safely.

They need to spend that £200 million on measures to eradicate the gross levels of sexual assault and harrassment of women by men in this country. It simply isn't safe for a woman to be out and about on her own after dark in many city centres and even worse in some rural locations, and on public transport. Or at least, many women don't feel at all safe so of course they drive.

That's why any self-respecting parent with the means to do so buys their children driving lessons for their 17th Birthday and a car as soon as they have passed their test. So their children never have to worry about having to walk anywhere after dark or rely on some drunken friend or a rapist taxi driver to get them home.

Spend the £200 million on eradicating the Wayne Couzens, David Carricks and Andrew Tates from this world and people of their ilk. Maybe then women will feel safe enough to walk or cycle by themselves at night.

Sorry, just my opinion, but women and children are smart enough to navigate the roads as they are on foot or on a bicycle without changing a brick of existing 'infrastructure'.