Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Emergency cycle funding by region – how much is available in your area?

Transport Secretary says he has cut ‘red tape’ – but will funding result in long-term improvements?

Earlier this month, the Government announced a £250m emergency active travel fund. £225m is being allocated to help councils in England outside London create pop-up bike lanes and other measures to improve cycling and walking. The remaining £25m is being used to help people get their bikes repaired so they can get back cycling.

The announcement was followed by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps last week amending laws to reduce ‘red tape’ and supposedly halve the time it takes for councils to get these schemes up and running.

Cycling Minister Chris Heaton-Harris said: “We’re living in a time where many people are cycling and walking more than they did before, and we must build on this opportunity to bring about longer-term change – where active travel is viewed as the default for shorter journeys, long after this crisis has finished.”

Regions have been given the following amounts: (There's a full breakdown further down the page.)

  • East of England - £30m
  • Midlands - £38m
  • North East - £13.4m
  • North West - £33.5m
  • South East - £70m
  • South West - £14m
  • Yorkshire and the Humber - £24.5m

Pop-up bike lanes are now being built at impressive speed, several of them to surprisingly high standards for temporary infrastructure. We’re attempting to document what’s happening throughout the country here.

There are however concerns that with lockdown now gradually being lifted, time is running out to deliver meaningful long-term change.

Speaking as far back as April, Manchester’s cycling commissioner, Chris Boardman, said of the coronavirus-induced changes to transport: “It’s a chance to redefine ‘normal’, but we’ve only got weeks to do it.”

More recently, London Cycling Campaign (LCC) has warned that London will be “in real trouble” if plans for emergency safe cycling infrastructure are not implemented quickly to give people returning to work an alternative to driving or using public transport.

East of England

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough £2,874,000

Bedford £607,000

Central Bedfordshire £999,000

Essex £9,683,000

Hertfordshire £8,489,000

Luton £1,082,000

Norfolk £1,971,000

Southend-on-Sea £1,545,000

Suffolk £1,685,000

Thurrock £1,438,000

 

East Midlands

Derby £1,021,000

Derbyshire £2,216,000

Leicester £1,814,000

Leicestershire £1,500,000

Lincolnshire £1,053,000

Northamptonshire £1,753,000

Nottingham £2,549,000

Nottinghamshire £2,866,000

Rutland £48,000

 

North East

North East £11,312,000

Tees Valley £2,153,000

 

North West

Blackburn with Darwen £385,000

Blackpool £520,000

Cheshire East £774,000

Cheshire West and Chester £805,000

Cumbria £1,167,000

Greater Manchester £15,872,000

Lancashire £3,501,000

Liverpool City Region £9,870,000

Warrington £650,000

 

South East

London £25,000,000

Bracknell Forest £378,000

Brighton and Hove £2,970,000

Buckinghamshire £2,300,000

East Sussex £2,395,000

Hampshire £4,316,000

Isle of Wight £310,000

Kent £8,024,000

Medway £1,545,000

Milton Keynes £1,142,000

Oxfordshire £2,984,000

Portsmouth £961,000

Reading £1,474,000

Slough £920,000

Southampton £1,225,000

Surrey £8,482,000

West Berkshire £619,000

West Sussex £3,919,000

Windsor and Maidenhead £699,000

Wokingham £759,000

 

South West

B’mouth, C’hurch and Poole £1,398,000

Cornwall £759,000

Devon £1,689,000

Dorset £577,000

Glos £1,442,000

Nth Somerset £474,000

Plymouth £1,244,000

Somerset £602,000

Swindon £962,000

Torbay £276,000

West of Eng £3,705,000

Wiltshire £1,135,000

 

West Midlands

West Midlands £17,234,000

Herefordshire £200,000

Shropshire £432,000

Stoke-on-Trent £842,000

Telford and Wrekin £382,000

Warwickshire £1,288,000

Worcestershire £1,353,000

 

Yorks + The Humber

East Riding of Yorkshire £615,000

City of Kingston upon Hull £1,362,000

North East Lincolnshire £419,000

North Lincolnshire £203,000

North Yorkshire £1,331,000

Sheffield City Region £7,186,000

West Yorkshire £12,567,000

York £867,000

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.

Add new comment

4 comments

Avatar
ktache | 3 years ago
0 likes

This article outlines some of Reading's plans including a map, with a link to more info-

https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/18456877.cycle-lanes-london-road...

Avatar
spen | 3 years ago
0 likes

Apparently the council in the town where I live are planning to put in an experimental lane on a road where even their counts show little cycle use and is going to generate howls of protest as its taking out parking bays.  But they know best, its money wasted if you ask me, they could improve access around the town centre and get better results, including improving social distancing

Avatar
judda6610 | 3 years ago
0 likes

Is your model in th Pop-Up cycle lane photo so used to riding in the gutter she can't get out of the habit?

Avatar
Awavey replied to judda6610 | 3 years ago
2 likes

Ive a nasty feeling thats been setup as a 2 way popup cycling lane as daft as that may sound, as to be filed under the law of unintended consequences, this government funding spree has a 4 week time limit,not unreasonably they want to see what LAs start to do with it before writing them a blank cheque.

The problem and the unintended consequence is LAs are then viewing this as a we must spend this money within 4 weeks, therefore any scheme they can think up, whether its actually useful to cyclists,makes sense, meets any kind of minimum standards of cycling infra or not, theyll do it, just so they can tell their bosses look we spent the money built some cycling infra,and congratulate themselves on a job well done.

So unless youve got a Chris Boardman type overseeing your LA, I fear we are going to end up with a complete dogs breakfast of stuff that probably at best does us no favours as cyclists, but at its worst, almost certainly pushes cycling backwards

Latest Comments