Council receives grant funding for active travel initiatives

Cycling, walking and wheeling in West Berkshire is set to be boosted thanks to a £328,000 grant from Active Travel England.

The funding will be put towards West Berkshire Council's design and delivery of new active travel initiatives. Initiatives which have been delivered using previous funding include the:

• introduction of an additional School Street scheme at Francis Baily School in Thatcham
• development of proposals to improve the pedestrian and cycle connection between Theale and Calcot; and
• development of plans for Stage 2 of the Stockcross Linkway, intended to connect into the wider Newbury area network via Speen Lane

West Berkshire Council is already planning to spend more than £1.2m next year on active travel initiatives - which with the grant would bring the total spend on active travel to over £1.5m. It will contribute towards the priorities set out in the Council Strategy to tackle the climate and ecological emergencies and to build thriving communities.

Welcoming the additional funding Councillor Stuart Gourley, Executive Member for Environment and Highways said:

"This additional funding will boost active travel infrastructure in the district - supporting cleaner journeys and providing healthy and physically active travel options.

"We are particularly keen to encourage and enable people to walk, wheel or cycle at least some of their local journeys - to school, to the shops, to work or just for leisure. This money will allow us to do more to join up local active travel routes, make destinations more accessible and continue to deliver cycle training.  

"There are huge benefits linked to active travel, in terms of better health and wellbeing for people and wider society through increased physical activity and reduced vehicle emissions, less pressure on the NHS, substantial economic and reduced traffic pressure on the road network."   

In other funding news, West Berkshire Council has also recently been awarded £96,000 from Active Travel England's Active Travel Fund 5 and is investigating connecting two cycle- and pedestrian route sections in Thatcham.  Subject to further development and consultation in the local area, these proposals offer potential to link with two other schemes recently delivered by the Council.   

You can find more information about Active Travel in West Berkshire here.