£338 million package to support active travel plans

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced that a £338 million package to boost cycling and walking across the country will help boost the pandemic's active travel boom.

Infrastructure upgrades, changes to The Highway Code and new requirements to ensure that active travel schemes’ effects are properly assessed are among the raft of measures included in the newly published Summer of Cycling and Walking document.

As the UK prepares to host COP26 later this year, these initiatives will play a key role in the government’s drive to build back greener from the pandemic and achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

The £338 million is a 30 per cent increase to the £257 million announced for active travel in last year’s spending review. This funding will help see the construction of hundreds of miles of new high-quality cycle lanes and aid the delivery of new schemes to encourage walking. This will include the delivery of improvements across the National Cycle Network.

Shapps said: "Millions of us have found over the past year how cycling and walking are great ways to stay fit, ease congestion on the roads and do your bit for the environment. As we build back greener from the pandemic, we’re determined to keep that trend going by making active travel easier and safer for everyone. This £338 million package marks the start of what promises to be a great summer of cycling and walking, enabling more people to make those sustainable travel choices that make our air cleaner and cities greener."

As well as improving safety for cyclists, the government is also aiming to make cycling easier and more accessible through a new scheme aiming to increase awareness of e-cycles and tackle barriers to their use. An e-cycle support programme will be launched later this year and comes after the government has already provided funding to help nine local authorities deliver e-cycle initiatives.