The investment, which is part of the £2bn cycling and walking package announced in 2020, includes £161m for 133 local authority walking and cycling schemes aimed at improving infrastructure such as footways, cycle lanes and pedestrian crossings across England. It also includes £35m to improve the quality, safety and accessibility of the National Cycle Network, £1.5m on feasibility studies to assess how to make areas more pedestrian and cycle friendly, and up to £8 million for a new e-cycle loan programme to accelerate uptake of e-cycles.
Dr Rachel Hayward, Brake’s Head of Research, Policy and Development, said “This commitment is a further welcome step towards enabling us all to travel safely and healthily in active ways. Regularly using active modes of transport like walking and cycling provides numerous physical and mental health benefits, as well as incurring lower costs than other modes, both financially and in terms of environmental impact.
“We hope that the schemes and improvements this funding contributes to will make it safer and easier for people to walk and cycle and that they will encourage more people to choose these forms of transport in the future. At Brake, we very much look forward to the Government’s ongoing commitment to, and funding of, active transport.”
