North Yorkshire’s ATF4 Bid Fails

North Yorkshire’s bid for funding from Active Travel Fund 4 (ATF4) has failed in its entirety.

North Yorkshire’s ATF4 Bid

The council had bid for a total of just over £3 million, for the following schemes:

• £1.081 million for cycle tracks and improved pedestrian crossings on Victoria Avenue
• £1.654 million for cycle tracks on A59 Knaresborough Road, to link High Bridge to Starbeck
• £458,500 for a scheme on Darlington Road, Richmond

The amount for Victoria Avenue was North Yorkshire’s “indicative amount”, which seemed to mean that the bid was very likely to be successful. Unfortunately even that has been rejected by Active Travel England.

Reasons for the Failure of the ATF4 Bid

A council report at the time of the bid stated (para 2.8) that the council had been in discussions with Active Travel England about Victoria Avenue. Why then didn’t council officers talk to Active Travel England to make sure that their bid met the criteria?

Executive Member for Transport Cllr Keane Duncan told the Harrogate Advertiser:

‘We are inevitably disappointed that our ambitious £3.19 million bid to enhance facilities for cyclists and pedestrians through the fourth round of the government’s Active Travel Fund has not been successful.

We believe we put forward strong proposals for the three schemes – Victoria Avenue in Harrogate, Darlington Road in Richmond and the A59 Maple Close from Harrogate to Knaresborough.

We are seeking detailed feedback from Active Travel England so we can understand the reasons behind their decision. We hope to work with them to progress schemes in these areas and elsewhere in the county successfully in future.’

cllr keane duncan

It’s not clear that Cllr Duncan is being entirely open in his comments to the local papers. Does he really not have any idea why the bid failed? Will he update the papers with full details of the reasons for failure once he has received them from Active Travel England?

Kevin Douglas of Harrogate District Cycle Action told the Harrogate Advertiser:

‘Obviously it’s disappointing and we’re waiting to hear more detail. We were hopeful they’d be successful so they could carry out the work but we’re not surprised.’

kevin douglas, hdca

Liaising with Active Travel England

This is another hugely disappointing failure.

We know that North Yorkshire officers are in contact with Active Travel England. Given that, why on earth didn’t they run their bid past the decision-makers in advance to check that it met all the criteria?