City gets on its bike to win funding bid
Birmingham has won £1.3m after making a successful bid to the Department of Transport’s Cycle Ambitious Cities project, which is designed to help cities improve their cycling infrastructure.
The government wants more people to cycle as part of their everyday journeys and eventually become, in the words of the Cycling Minister, Jesse Norman: ” a nation of cyclists.”
The money will support the creation of a cycleway, better road markings and an improved pedestrian crossing at the Pershore Road/Priory Road junction in Edgbaston.
Interest in cycling in the city was showcased last Sunday at the Let’s Ride Birmingham event, when Olympic cyclist Sir Chris Hoy led off thousands of cyclists on roads closed to traffic between the city centre and Edgbaston Stadium.
The bids followed the Department of Transport’s Cycling Safety Review, in which Cycling Ambitious Cities were offered the chance to get a share of the £6.5m funding pot that had been allocated to support appropriate schemes for improving road safety and the creation of more bike-friendly areas.
The other successful bidding cities were Bristol, Cambridge, Leeds, Manchester and Norwich. In total government funding to encourage more cycling and walking is in excess of £1bn up to 2021, as part of the cycling and walking investment strategy launched in April 2017.
Norman added: ” While Britain has some of the safest roads in the world, we want to encourage still more people to take up cycling. We are determined to make cycling safer and easier across the country. This funding, as part of our overall cycling and walking strategy, will help local councils to make their roads safer for everyone.”
