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news
The National Cycle Network (via YouTube)Government provides £21m for National Cycle Network
Cycling Minister Jesse Norman has announced £21m to improve significant on and off-road stretches of the National Cycle Network (NCN).
“Cycling and walking are a key part of our plans to make transport cleaner, greener and more productive,” said Norman. “This funding will help ensure that everyone can enjoy wonderful routes which connect communities across the UK, and benefit from the huge health and environmental benefits of cycling.”
In November, Sustrans – which develops and manages the NCN – published a review highlighting serious shortcomings in the existing 16,575 miles of routes. The charity recommended an action plan that it says will result in the number of journeys made on the NCN each year doubling by 2040.
Projects to be carried out with the new funding will include:
- Refurbishing and upgrading the Cinder Track North in Whitby to improve access to a substantial new housing development
- Converting a poor on-road section of the NCN between Dewsbury and Huddersfield to a combination of traffic free and full segregation
- Connecting current paths through the centre of Lincoln
- Re-routing busy on-road sections with poor junction facilities to an alternative traffic-free route in Longbridge, Birmingham
- Creating a new quiet-way route to replace a busy on-road section between Luton and Dunstable
- Improving a road crossing and re-routing to traffic-free alternatives around Ashton Court in Bristol
- Improving and extending paths connecting Thatcham and Newbury
Xavier Brice, Chief Executive of Sustrans commented: “As the custodians of the National Cycle Network we are very excited by this investment in transforming crucial links for communities across England, making it easier for everyone to walk and cycle.
“The network already makes it possible for 4.4 million people to travel actively every year, to work, school or for leisure. This investment is a vital boost to achieving a network of safe paths for everyone, used and enjoyed by people of all ages and abilities.
“We look forward to working with local authorities and partner organisations around the country to improve people’s health, access to green spaces, and help our villages, towns and cities move sustainably.”
It’s also been announced that Cycling UK’s Big Bike Revival will receive investment to continue its work inspiring the 42 per cent of people who own bikes but do not cycle, to start riding.
Paul Tuohy, Chief Executive of Cycling UK, said: “We are delighted the Big Bike Revival will be going ahead again in 2019, helping tens of thousands more people to discover the joys of cycling.
“Last year we put on more than 1,000 events across England, kick starting a life time of cycling for more than 40,000 people we reached.
“This money will ensure even more people are helped to overcome the barriers that stop them getting on their bikes, while improving health, happiness and air quality.”
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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14 comments
How much of the £21 million will be used for actual works and how much will be used to pay Sustrans fees?
Government to local authorities "you should spend 15% of transport budget on cycling and walking"
Government itself "We're spending 0.015% of transport budget on cycling and walking. Why aren't the cyclists and walkers delighted?"
I'm not entirely convinced that £21m will be enough to pay for the projects listed...
Isn't £21m the sort of small change that pays for a ferry company with no ferries, that sort of thing? We could call it a "Grayling".
eg. "How much will resurfacing that half mile of motorway cost, Sir Humphrey?" "Oh, only a Grayling, minister. Barely anything."
It's a truly risible amount of money, scattered here and there, that will achieve very little.
It's a quarter of a cost of the proposed 4-mile Shrewsbury 'relief' road (for a town that already has a DC bypass) and less than Shropshire council wants to spend on refurbishing its Shirehall, a 1960s concrete bunker. The £54 million from the DfT is "part of a £1.8billion investment in schemes across the Midlands, as well as providing £176million in the past year for road maintenance and small transport projects" (LEP). That £54 million is a little over 2/3 of the estimated £71 million cost of the road. The council will have to find £17 million and must also fund any overspend (which is almost inevitable). The council also intends to build a 1-mile link road from the A5 to the western end of the NWRR, costing an additional £13 million.
This same council has spent £12 million of LEP grant money on tarting up roundabouts and a few pavements around the town. This work cannot possibly achieve its claimed purpose of being sustainable and providing "enhancements to pedestrian and cycle links to increase accessibility to the town centre for active and sustainable modes of transport" and "a highly accessible and connected town centre for pedestrians".
I'm citing my own council merely as an example of how much public money is pissed away on these projects. Further afield...
The 'emerald necklace' alongside the HS2 rail project that would provide a ROI of at least 5 times that of the line itself has been scrapped. It wasn't part of the HS2 project so councils would have to fund their own sections. Well that's not going to happen with cycle-unfriendly councils being starved of cash over the last 9 years.
Last month it was revealed that the M4 'relief' road that would wreck the Gwent Levels could cost as much £2 billion. But there's already one f..king motorway across there! The Welsh government has so far spent £44 million of taxpayers' money (that's £3 million per mile) just preparing for and running an inquiry into the proposals (BBC).
TfL are struggling to get dedicated cycle infrastructure in parts of London where councils and ill-informed councillors and even clergymen get NIMBY... which I guess is understandable, since who of us would prefer clean air, safer, more sociable and economically more prosperous streets when you can make them scary, noisy, smelly places crammed with toxic taxis and white vans?
And none of this is helped by stuffed shirts in the House of Lords like Robert Winston getting airtime & column space repeatedly making ill-informed statements and baseless accusations to further demonise and marginalise people who ride bicycles.
I didn't know we had a government any more.
It would be good if the Cinder Track were really being restored. Scarborough Council's restoration plan is costed at £3.5 million.
The funding from the DfT must be for a tiny fraction of that, since they are saying that only a short bit in Whitby is to be upgraded, to give access to a new housing estate.
I know any changes to the Cinder Track are controversial, but really the state of our National Cycle Network Route One is appalling - for example this and this.
It's nothing is it.
HS2 may have been worth doing if they'd put a bikepath down the route as they'd talked about originally.
It's coming to the end of the Financial Year, and the DfT has pennies left ... which they have to spend, or lose. Bright spark in the DfT - "why don't we throw the remaining pennies at cyclists!"
Shits.
Highways England spending on the A63 in Hull for 0.9miles of road to ease congestion of a mere 47,000 vehicles over a 24hr period is £392.5M! And at the same time making the road a psuedo motorway that will banish people on bikes from the road and no cycle infra of any use put in place 9basically repeating what they did further up the A63 that had a maximum of 45s reduction on journey times to the ports!!)
£2M is the typical fucking insult dressed up as doing us a favour, it'll do fuck all as per!
Really, not what I saw at the open days showing the plans. OK the Castle St stretch is still going to be crap apart from the multiuse bridge but there's still a lot of investment in cycling infrastructure around the "road improvements" BTW the whole of the road was planned, and funded by the EU, to be a high level road from the River Hull to Daltry St but a certain PM decided the money would be better used to help widen the M25.
Personally I think the quicker the HGV's get out of the town centre and onto the motorway the better it is for cyclists.
Really, not what I saw at the open days showing the plans. OK the Castle St stretch is still going to be crap apart from the multiuse bridge but there's still a lot of investment in cycling infrastructure around the "road improvements" BTW the whole of the road was planned, and funded by the EU, to be a high level road from the River Hull to Daltry St but a certain PM decided the money would be better used to help widen the M25.
Personally I think the quicker the HGV's get out of the town centre and onto the motorway the better it is for cyclists.
I personally would like to see a focus on hard infrastructure delivery - rather than the 'soft' ride event delivery. The events, training, etc is worthwhile - but if the road network is still cr*p - then the barrier to mass cycling will remain. 100% agree on the NDR - another example of a scheme being developed and delivered by highway engineers whose only focus is on motor vehicles and simply don't design in cycle improvements. Unfortunately, it happens in almost every road scheme...
Crumbs off the table.
This is good news for the few sections mentioned, but also shows how pitifully inadequate this level of funding is. £21 million is less than an eighth of what was spent on Norfolk’s “Road to Nowhere”* whose main objective seems to be to severely curtail cycling between North Norfolk and Norwich. (To be fair, It’s not appreciated by motor vehicle users either!). Just think about what £178 million could do to the Bath to Bristol cycle route or even the whole of NCN1!
*aka the 12 mile Norwich Northern Distributor Road.