PETERBOROUGH GETS TWO AWARDS OF FUNDING FOR ACTIVE TRAVEL

Members of the Combined Authority Board today approved the drawdown of £635,000 of Active Travel Capital Funding Grant allocated by the Department for Transport for two schemes in Peterborough.

There is £625,000 for Thorpe Wood Cycleway and £10,000 for School Streets.  Thorpe Wood Cycleway and School Streets both seek to encourage active travel by providing improved and safe routes and in the long-term, increasing those walking and cycling and gaining the health and wellbeing benefits of exercise.

The Peterborough draft Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) identified Thorpe Wood, Peterborough as a priority and rated high benefit and value for money.

The Tranche 3 Active Travel Grants have been awarded by the Department for Transport.  Around £220k is expected to be spent in 2022/23 financial year and the rest in 2023/24 financial year.

The Combined Authority is encouraging active travel by providing cycle routes or safe zones that can help people to change their habits – swapping over-reliance on the private car for healthier and more climate-friendly ways of getting around, like walking and cycling.

The Thorpe Wood Cycleway will connect the replacement footbridge – currently being progressed by the A1260 Junction 15 project – with existing cycleways off Thorpe Wood Road, and into the Anglian Water Offices. The cycleway has potential for extension beyond this point if further funding is obtained in future.

Thorpe Wood Cycleway has already received an award from Tranche 2 Active Travel Funding and preliminary design is already going ahead at pace with Active Travel England already reviewing the preliminary design. The addition of this fresh Tranche 3 funding will carry the project forward into detailed design and construction.

School Streets sees temporary road closures outside the entrance of a school, creating a safer ‘foot, cycle or scoot zone’ during the school’s drop-off and pick-up times. The aim is both to enable more active travel and to reduce congestion and pollution outside the school entrances.

Funding from Tranche 2 enabled 11 schools to become ‘School Streets’ and the Tranche 3 funding means they can transition from temporary to permanent arrangements backed by Traffic Regulation Order and permanent signage.

Peterborough City Council would like to create more school streets with interested schools. These schemes are key elements of the city’s emerging strategy as outlined in the Combined Authority’s Local Transport and Connectivity Plan.