Despite securing £400,000 of new government funding for walking and cycling routes, Somerset Council has declined to confirm how they’re planning to utilise the money.
The Department for Transport (DfT) announced on March 23 that Somerset would receive a share of the £101m in the latest round of funding to deliver new active travel routes across the UK.
The funding came as part of the government's plan deliver 70 miles of new or improved cycling and walking infrastructure, improved local public engagement, e-cycle loans, and new active travel routes in National Parks, just over two months after a scathing select committee report concluded that the government is not on track to meet its own active travel targets by 2025.
Of the total amount, it was confirmed by Active Travel England that £409,537 will be allocated towards “capability funding”, which can be used to fund the design work for new and improved walking and cycling networks.
However, Somerset County Gazette reports that the council has declined to say how and where in the county this new funding will be targeted.
road.cc also contacted the council for a statement about the usage of the active travel funding, with the council responding: “We welcome the extra funding. It’s too early to say where this will be used as we’ve only just had the announcement, but we can say it will help fund the design of future schemes.”
So far, no start date for this scheme has yet been announced, with further details of the scheme’s designs and a construction timetable being expected to be made public later in the year.
In December last year, Councillor Mike Rigby, then portfolio holder for transport and digital, said: “Our team is looking what is possible and looking at ways of getting this done that will cause minimal impact to residents and road users.
“Exploratory work has been undertaken to assess the current conditions and width of the existing path by clearing away vegetation and encroachments to determine the viability of recovering width over longer sections of the route.
“Initial investigations have had positive results, and the team are now considering working methodology for undertaking clearance work from Carhampton through to Dunster efficiently with minimum disruption to the travelling public.”
This latest round of funding comes from the active travel capability fund – meaning it must be used for the design work of new schemes and related public consultation, rather than the physical cost of labour and materials.
The council has been working with numerous community and voluntary organisations to try and deliver new multi-user paths across Somerset through a variety of different funding sources.
> Active Travel England announces plans to deliver 70 miles of new or improved cycling routes as part of £101 million funding boost – but is it enough to get the government’s active travel targets back on track?
Additional cycle routes are planned in Bridgwater in the coming months, which will be delivered as part of the £23.2m Bridgwater town deal, with £9m of central government funding going towards the Celebration Mile and a further £1m on links to and from the Northgate Docks.
Somerset County Council — what the current council was known as until April 2023 — was earlier criticised by a cycling campaigner, saying that it deserved a “gold medal” for its words in support of active travel – but “the wooden spoon” when it comes to putting them in action.
Meanwhile, the Taunton Area Cycling Campaign said: “There is a marked contrast with progress in Devon, for example. Devon has recognised the economic benefits of traffic free routes, which have become important visitor attractions.
“We are calling on the County, yet again, to show leadership, be innovative, work with communities and up the pace of change.”