£60K confirmed for walkers and cyclists in March

£60K confirmed for walkers and cyclists in March

Walkers and cyclists in March to benefit from £60k as delivery of  Quick Wins gathers pace

It’s hoped that more people will take to active travel with today’s Transport & Infrastructure Committee recommending that Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority draw down £60k to help make walking and cycling around March easier, safer and more enjoyable.

At today’s meeting, committee members noted how more of March’s ‘Quick Wins’ have been delivered with others moving into construction. Following updates on delivery of the Quick Wins, members unanimously agreed to recommend the budget for developing a programme of schemes for walkers and cyclists as part of the overall March Area Transport Study.

James Palmer, Mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough:

“I’m delighted at the fantastic rate of delivery of the Quick Wins for March, backed by the work to bring the railway station up to scratch. Encouraging walking and cycling is a top priority, not just for Covid recovery, but for people’s general wellbeing and our effort to hammer down carbon emissions. March is a growing town, there are already 23k people living there, and Fenland is an area which needs investment in all modes of transport.”

The programme of Quick Wins was previously presented in March and July 2020 Committee and Board meetings. Many of those schemes have already been delivered, others are progressing to construction, funded through an underspend from the previous stage of the MATS study.  Included within the Quick Wins was the development of the Walking and Cycling Strategy proposal.

The walking and cycling improvements report will review the recent changes to government policy on walking and cycling.

Within the January 2021 Medium-Term Financial Plan there is a total of £6.4m allocated to this project of which £2.6m has been approved to spend for the development of the Outline Business Case, preliminary design and delivery of two Quick Wins, Quick Win 15 – Improve safety for school children with a zebra crossing  – now completed – and Quick Win 16  – Improve signage for HGV drivers to reduce poor route choice – now under construction.