Nottingham Labour has a long standing policy of promoting sustainable travel, including walking and cycling, and we have a history of success in securing funding to deliver these priorities.
COVID has made this more important as people’s travels habits have changed to short trips from longer commutes and people have been more inclined to get out into the open air through walks and cycle rides in local parks.
There is already an extensive cycle network in the city with 80 miles traffic free routes and 3 high quality segregated routes into the city. Recently we have been able to secure £570,000 from the Department for Transport’s Emergency Active Travel Fund which is helping us improve facilities for pedestrians and cyclists. Trial schemes are currently installed on Hucknall Road, St Ann’s Wells Road and next week on Carlton Road
We are also trialling low traffic neighbourhoods in the Arboretum and Derby road to encourage quieter streets that make for more pleasant walking and cycling. Similarly we are trialling the closure of Victoria Embankment to through traffic to make the space safer to walk or ride their bike and it has been great to see so many families doing that.
This sits alongside our successful bid to the Transforming Cities Fund where we secured £161 million with partners from Derby and the county. £40 million is set aside to improve pedestrian and cycle facilities across the city. Our proposals for this cover four key areas:
- Improving city centre connections and the public realm
- Linking Nottingham, Derby and the East Midlands Airport
- Improving cycling and pedestrian routes across the Trent with the addition of the new bridge.
- Expanding the on street bike hire scheme which will also include E-bikes.
All of this puts Nottingham in a strong position to capture the benefits about what has been a real renaissance in more sustainable travel.