Mayor’s Active Travel Fund Prospectus
The Mayor of York & North Yorkshire David Skaith has published a prospectus for his Mayoral Active Travel Fund.
The Overview section at the start of the report points out that currently in North Yorkshire 22% of adults and 58% of children are classed as inactive.
It says:
‘Healthy and active travel is a key mechanism to achieving the Mayor’s strategic priorities.
Increased levels of walking, wheeling and cycling in children and adults can deliver significant health benefits, address inequalities in society through providing access to opportunity, improve air quality through reducing transport-related carbon, and support local communities and economies’.
A key aim of the fund is to drive an increase in the Active Travel Capability ratings of North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council.
The Money Available
The Mayor’s Active Travel Fund is £4 million to be spent between November 2025 to April 2028.
The capital-revenue split is around 70-30. It will be paid out approximately as follows:
- £500,000 in 2025/26
- £1.75 million in 2026/27
- £1.75 million in 2027/28
The fund is also split as follows:
- £2.4 million for larger capital projects by the local authorities or National Parks, with each project worth £100-500,000
- £1 million for smaller scale projects run by bodies other than local authorities. 60% of this is revenue funding, and a managing agent will be appointed by the Combined Authority to oversee the bids
- £100,000 to local authorities for extra officer capacity
- £500,000 for consultants to administer the funds, cover Combined Authority costs, and pay for an Active Travel Commissioner
Conservatives Oppose Mayor’s Active Travel Agenda
The Mayor’s Active Travel Fund was discussed at a meeting of the Combined Authority on 24th October 2025.
As well as the Mayor, the leaders of the two councils attend. Carl Les is the Conservative leader of North Yorkshire Council.
He opposed the Mayor’s active travel proposals. He said:
‘I feel very sorry that I can’t actually support this proposition…I would like to.
I certainly agree with the concept of active travel, and I don’t think anybody disagrees with the concept of active travel. And I certainly agree with the idea of you David setting up an active travel fund to develop initiatives. But I do have some concerns about the process…
I do worry that having the two funds is going to promote some unhelpful competition between the funds…
I wonder whether the managing agent could actually be the local authority ourselves, whether we need to create something else.
I do support the idea of an Active Travel Commissioner, having seen an Active Travel Commissioner working elsewhere and getting the buy-in from the public.
But I don’t agree with procuring an external partner to manage the process’.
Carl Les wants his own council to keep all responsibility for active travel, even though that council has failed on active travel over many years.
The recommendation to proceed passed nevertheless, with the support of the Mayor and the City of York Council leadership.
Eligible Projects
The Mayor wants his Active Travel Fund to enable a measurable shift to active travel and to reduce dependency on private vehicles.
Eligible projects include light-touch infrastructure and behaviour change measures. They include:
- walking paths, and cycle routes with light segregation
- cycle parking, cycle hubs and cycle hangars
- junction improvements for active travel
- 20mph, traffic-calming, School Streets and modal filters
- active travel connections to public transport
- safer and more inclusive environments for under-represented groups
- behaviour change initiatives including cycle training, social prescribing and community bike schemes, walking groups, marketing campaigns and travel plans
Schemes must be wholly deliverable by April 2028.
They should deliver direct impact and regional impact.
Direct impact is improvements in the walking, wheeling and cycling environment which will increase active travel take-up.
Regional impact means that projects should demonstrate potential to catalyse wider regional change in the promotion and delivery of active travel. That could be an approach that can be replicated in other parts of the region.
Applications
Local authorities and Parish Councils can apply, as can community groups, charities, businesses and educational and health institutions.
There is a requirement for 10% match funding.
There are five assessment criteria: strategic, meets expected outputs and outcomes, financial, commercial, and management arrangements.
The timetable is as follows:
- December 2025 – first call for applications
- January 2026 – applications window opens
- February 2026 – applications assessed
- March 2026 – project delivery begins
- March 2026 – announcement of full fund