Nottingham awarded £4.6m to build new cycling tracks and footpaths

Nottingham will receive millions of pounds in Government grants to upgrade walking and cycling infrastructure across the city and county, it has been announced.

The Active Travel Fund grants will help to deliver 12 projects across the East Midlands aimed at building new cycle tracks, footpaths and making streets safer around schools.

In total, Nottingham has been awarded £4.6m with Nottinghamshire County Council set to receive £2.9m and Nottingham City Council £1.7m.

Councils in Derby and Leicester will receive a share of £1.8m each.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “We want to make sure everyone across the country can choose cheaper, greener and healthier travel, while we continue to support our high streets and local businesses.

“This investment will improve road safety, ease congestion across the East Midlands and on public transport, and ultimately improve the health and wellbeing of the millions of people.”

The £200m nationwide scheme, which was announced in February, is set to fund 121 miles of new cycle track, 77 miles of new footpaths and improve street safety near 130 schools.

In April, Nottingham became the latest city to launch a Lime e-bike rental scheme in a move to further improve access to cycling in the region.

It is estimated that ‘active travel’ will bring a £36.5bn boost to the economy in a year through increased high street spending and improved access to employment.

Chris Boardman, National Active Travel Commissioner, said: “By giving millions of people the freedom of choice to walk, wheel or cycle for everyday trips, this funding will help us improve public health, tackle climate change and give hundreds of thousands of children the independence to travel safely under their own steam.

“Now our focus is working with councils to get these schemes built swiftly.

“We’ll be working together to ensure the projects are well designed and effective so that they bring maximum benefits to communities and help improve lives nationwide.”