ATF4 Allocations
Allocations from Active Travel Fund 4 (ATF4) were announced today.
Active Travel England is distributing a pot of £200 million that was first announced on 6th February 2023. In the months since then, local authorities put in bids, and Active Travel England has now decided which would be successful.
It emerged at the end of March that North Yorkshire’s ATF4 bid had failed in its entirety.
Active Travel England Tweeted a video to accompany the announcement:
Today we've allocated £200m to give people nationwide the freedom of choice to walk, wheel or cycle for short trips. @Chris_Boardman joined @Jesse_Norman in Coventry where #ActiveTravel schemes are making local journeys easier, cheaper and more fun🚲🌍👟👇https://t.co/hrwjxSIdYr pic.twitter.com/tFvLVLMsBe
— Active Travel England (@activetraveleng) May 19, 2023
Schemes
The total number of schemes funded is 265. It breaks down to:
- 121 miles of cycle track
- 77 miles of new paths and greenways
- 130 safe streets initiatives around schools
Low-Traffic Neighbourhoods Abandoned
The government press release states that Low-Traffic Neighbourhoods are not being funded.
That can only be a government decision, presumably at the direction of Prime Minister Sunak. It probably amounts to caving in to a campaign by the right-wing press.
Big Winners
Among the big winners were:
- Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (Level 2) – £14,400,000
- North East Joint Transport Committee (Level 2) – £7,203,211
- Suffolk County Council (Level 2) – £7,933,216
- West Midlands Combined Authority (Level 3) – £12,608,201
- West Yorkshire Combined Authority (Level 3) – £17,430,668
WYCA’s funding amounts to 8.7% of the total.
It is notable that the higher-rated authorities got the lion’s share of the funding. The thinking behind this is that the money will be put to good use by councils with the commitment and expertise to build good active travel infrastructure.
City of York (Level 1) did well too, winning £1,103,095.
Chris Boardman
National Active Travel Commissioner Chris Boardman said:
‘By giving millions of people the freedom of choice to walk, wheel or cycle for everyday trips, this funding will help us improve public health, tackle climate change and give hundreds of thousands of children the independence to travel safely under their own steam.
Now our focus is working with the councils to get the schemes built swiftly. We’ll be working together to ensure the projects are well-designed and effective, so that they bring maximum benefits to communities and help improve lives nationwide.’
chris boardman