Council aims to spend £75m on improving cycling and walking facilities

NORTH YORKSHIRE County Council is to push the Government for more money as it looks to fund a multi-million pound plan to boost walking and cycling links.

The county council has been allocated just £133,000, half of the possible maximum available, to finance the continuation of the social distancing measures as part of the emergency active travel fund. The money is to be used to support walking and cycling as part of the national recovery from the pandemic.

The authority says it is already planning its bid for the second phase, when the larger sum of approximately £1.1m will be available, and is pushing ahead with proposals for other multi-million pound bids to support walking and cycling.

The money being allocated through the emergency active travel fund is the first phase of a £2bn five-year sustainable travel package announced by the Government.

The county council is also proposing a package of about £75m of improvements to cycling and walking facilities in Harrogate, Scarborough and Selby as part of Transport for the North’s postpandemic economic recovery plan that it will be taking to the Government.

Allan McVeigh, the council’s head of Network Strategy, said: “This package of proposals to improve cycling and walking facilities in the Scarborough area is part of our contribution to a wideranging request to Government to be made by regional transport body Transport for the North.

“At present, no funding is available for this work. It is, though, an ambitious £28m proposal based on our Scarborough Local Cycling and Walking Improvement Plan.”