Essex County Council welcomes Government funding for cycling and walking to get the county moving

The first tranche of a multi-million funding package that will help to transform the way people can cycle and walk in the county has just been announced by the Government.  

The £1.9m from the Emergency Active Travel fund will allow Essex County Council to enhance current cycle lanes and pavements and create new ones. Everybody has the chance to improve the environment, create cleaner air and reduce congestion by, cycling and walking more, if they are able, using the car only if they have to or have no other means of transport over short distances.

At present, many town and city centre roads in Essex are empty or have dramatically less traffic, although as lockdown restrictions get gradually lifted it is anticipated that traffic levels will increase, but perhaps not back to pre-coronavirus levels. However many pavements and cycleways in Essex are too narrow to allow social distancing, so change is necessary to encourage new, healthier ways of travelling locally.

In order to prioritise pedestrians and cyclists more, Essex Highways is planning to utilise some road space by making temporary changes to the road network in Essex town and city centres to benefit users and residents. 

The first tranche of funding from the Emergency Active Travel Fund, £1.9m has been received by Essex County Council. It is understood by the authority that this will represent approximately 20 per cent of the final funding which will be supplied by the Department for Transport.

Cllr Kevin Bentley, Deputy Leader of Essex County Council and Cabinet Member for Infrastructure, said:

“This is a real opportunity for people to change the areas where they live by improving the air quality and getting healthier. With the lockdown so many people have commented how much quieter areas are and how much fresher the air smells.

“While I absolutely recognise that many people will have to use their cars in the future, this is opportunity for people to think hard before they drive and ask themselves the question, can I walk or cycle? Our job is to make that as easy as we can given the size of the county.

“I am delighted with this announcement of £1.9m and I am expecting the Government to offer more given the importance of this issue and this opportunity to change the way we travel.”

“We have a responsibility to provide adequate physical distance in town and city centres to maintain social distancing and help prevent the spread of coronavirus.

“The Government’s advice is that people who can work from home should continue to do so and we will continue to remind employers of this.

“At the same time, for people who have no choice but to travel to work, journeys both on public transport and by car need to be managed and footways and cycle ways need to be safe and accommodate social distancing.

“We want to help people get back to work and we want to help the economy get back up and running – we can do that by making it safer for people to move around our busiest town centres.

“Our longer-term ambition is to maintain lower levels of private car use in urban areas, so that walking and cycling becomes the preferred choice for shorter journeys. We’ll be talking to cycling and walking groups in Essex to garner their input and this approach will also lead to an improvement in city and town centre air quality.”