Derby submits bid for more emergency active travel measures

Published: 13 August 2020

On Friday 7th August, Derby City Council submitted a bid to the Department for Transport for £817,000 for Moving Derby Forward (part two) after the Government announced it was making further funding available to local authorities to deliver additional emergency active travel measures.

Following the first round of funding announced in June, the Council is currently delivering the schemes proposed in Moving Derby Forward (part one) after receiving £228,000, more than the original allocation, due the proposal being judged by the DFT to be ‘particularly strong’.

As with part one, the schemes proposed in part two are emergency measures that have been developed in a very short time, to promote and support alternatives to car use and to provide travel options whilst there are practical constraints on using public transport.

In the short period available all local Councillors were invited to submit ideas and suggestions based on their local knowledge.  All of the suggestions have had to been considered in relation the specific funding criteria, cost and if they can be delivered before March 2021.

The Moving Derby Forward (part two) programme is made up of four schemes, which will see measures implemented at several key locations in the city.

• School Safe Haven Project – this builds on the work done by the Parking Services Team and will result in trials of measures to promote active travel for trips to schools and reduce school gate traffic
• Segregated Cycle Lanes – these will be on key routes including, Sinfin Lane, Ashbourne Road, Duffield Road, and Burton Road
• Cycle Derby Plan – this is to increase the level of training for children and adults and to provide information and guided rides to encourage cyclists to take advantage of the visible changes to roads.  With a specific programme for Chellaston to demonstrate how existing infrastructure can be used to increase active travel.
• Normanton Road – this includes proposals to reduce traffic and create a better environment for walking and shopping, with areas widened to provide more space for social distancing.

Most of the measures will be delivered using temporary traffic management equipment, and will be reviewed after six months.

Councillor Matthew Holmes, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Planning, and Transportation said:

We are still living in extraordinary times, and the government is challenging local authorities to deliver active travel measures as a way of changing travel habits and increasing mobility and health.  As with the first round of funding, the government is not asking local authorities to do simple things, it is asking for ambitious and what, in the ‘pre-covid’ world, would not have been considered. This next round of measures will hopefully build on the earlier successful bid and offer a better, safer environment for pedestrians and cyclists and is focusing efforts at a local level. I am particularly excited by the potential of Cycle Derby Plan. The boost to funding will deliver education and training to all parts or the city and is inclusive of all parts of the community.

Transport