£115.9m secured by Coventry city council to improve transport system

Prototype vehicle for Coventry Very Light Railway

Coventry City Council has secured £115.9m in grant funding, to help decarbonise and improve the city’s transport system.

Funding was awarded following a big to the Department for Transport’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), with additional funding coming from the WMCA’s Active Travel Fund and Sustrans’ Paths for Everyone funding.

The council aims to install sustainable transport measures such as targeted improvements to the road networks, the installation of new cycling and walking routes and improved connectivity across the transport system.

A large chunk will be directed towards the Coventry Very Light Railway project, to support its development and encourage residents to use alternatives to using private cars.

This could reduce the number of emissions produced by the city’s transport system which in turn would help the city play its part in tackling the causes of climate change.

Cllr Jim O’Boyle, Cabinet Member for Jobs, Regeneration and Climate Change said: “We know that in order to play our part in tackling the causes of climate change we need to make fundamental changes to our city’s transport network.

“We have to encourage people to choose alternatives to the private car for some journeys and to do that we have to make sure that walking, cycling and public transport are attractive and viable alternatives in our city.

“Along with the all-electric bus fleet, fully segregated cycle routes and more on street charge points than anywhere else outside London our ambition is to enable local people to be able to make real choices about how they travel sustainably”.

In addition to the funding secured from the CRSTS, WMCA’s Active Travel Fund and Sustrans Paths for Everyone, the schemes will also be supplemented by up to £26.8m match funding which is a mix of private and public sector investment.

The funding will be discussed at the meeting of Cabinet on the 30 August before being voted on at Full Council on the 6 September.

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