The council share this update to the release from Sustrans. Ed
The Isle of Wight Council has secured £1.3m through the Department for Transport (DfT) Access Fund for Sustainable Travel over the next three financial years.
The funding will enable the council to continue delivering an ambitious programme of travel behaviour change on the Island through proven partnerships with the education, business and tourism sectors, saving over 3000 tonnes of carbon; removing over 20m private car kms, and generating a net increase of 1.17m walking and 832k cycling trips over the three-year implementation period.
How the money will be used
The council will use the funding to:
- work with the tourism industry to grow the value of the visitor economy, and embed active travel into visitor experiences;
- normalise walking and cycling to work and transform access to employment opportunities for jobseekers and apprentices;
- improve the health and wellbeing of young people and their families through education and community engagement.
Executive member for transport and infrastructure, Councillor Ian Ward, said:
“This is excellent news for the Island and will enable us to continue to build on our partnership work to deliver travel behaviour change on the Island.
“It is important to note that this external funding has been secured competitively, and further underlines our commitment to encouraging a network of sustainable travel options for all, reducing our carbon footprint and improving the health and wellbeing of Island residents.”
Sustainable Travel Access Fund
All English transport authorities (outside London) were invited to bid for the funding. The Isle of Wight Council is one of just 25 successful local authority bidders that will each receive a share of the £60 million Sustainable Travel Access Fund for 2017-20.
The competitively secured funding builds on previous investment via two rounds of funding through the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (£3.6m in 2012-2015 and £950k 2015/16), and the current Sustainable Travel Transition Year (£450k in 2016-2017).
The programme
Over the next three years, the Isle of Wight Council Access Fund for Sustainable Travel programme will include:
- an extension of a comprehensive travel behaviour change programme delivered to schools in partnership with Sustrans, which seeks to continue to increase the proportion of young people cycling, walking and scooting to and from school. Between April 2015 and March 2016, Sustrans officers delivered 496 activities across 48 schools and had pupil 39,969 pupil attendances at activities. The proportion of children traveling actively to and from school increased proportionally by 7.9% from 50.4 to 54.2 percent of pupils during 2015/16;
- Supporting access to sustainable transport, support and training for Island jobseekers and apprentices;
- Continuing to define the Isle of Wight as the premier destination for walking and cycling experiences in partnership with Visit Isle of Wight; through inspiring our visitors to build active travel into everyday journeys
DfT’s Access Fund for Sustainable Travel
The aim of the DfT’s Access Fund for Sustainable Travel is to support the local economy by supporting access to new and existing employment, education and training; and actively promote increased levels of physical activity through walking and cycling.
The £64 million government funding will support local projects over three years from 2017 – 2020 and form part of a wider government package of more than £300 million to boost walking and cycling during the current parliament. By 2040 the government aims to make this part of everyday life and walking and cycling the natural choice for shorter journeys.
For further information about the Department for Transport’s announcement, please see the Website.
Image: Images Money under CC BY 2.0
