Over £650,000 will be invested into walking and cycling in Macclesfield, as part of the Department for Transport's £30m funding to launch Summer of Cycling & Walking and which will be managed by Bristol-based walking and cycling charity Sustrans.
The funding will cover improvements to National Route 55 to help more people walk and cycle regular journeys. This is a key active travel route between Macclesfield town centre, Handforth, Bollington, Poynton and further into Stockport. It will include a road crossing on Middlewood Way and widening of a shared use path through a reallocation of road space.
The Department for Transport (DfT) announced funding for the Network totalling £30million as part of its ‘Summer of Cycling and Walking’ initiative. It will kick-start dozens of infrastructure improvement projects across the UK.
Andrew Ross, Cheshire East Council director of highways and infrastructure, said:
“This is excellent news for Macclesfield and Cheshire East, where we are placing great emphasis on our policy to promote active travel, including walking and cycling.
“This is an important link along the Middlewood Way and, hopefully, will encourage more people to explore it on bikes as well as encouraging some workers to cycle to employment sites at Hurdsfield. It is a key element of our local cycling and walking infrastructure plan in Macclesfield.
Xavier Brice, Sustrans Chief Executive, said:
“This funding will bring major improvements to the National Cycle Network across England by linking communities together and enhancing valued and well-used cycling and walking routes.
"Most importantly of all, this vital boost will further enable those who want to cycle, walk or wheel to do so.”
A raft of upgrades will take place on existing paths and cycle routes to:
- enhance cycleway connectivity
- improve accessibility through the removal of barriers
- and develop and increase the number of completely traffic-free sections of the Network.
The announcement coincides with the DfT’s introduction of the 2021/22 Capability Fund.
It's a £30million revenue funding stream allocated to all local authorities in England, outside of London, to help them plan for good quality active travel infrastructure and to support behaviour change programmes.
The Fund is supported by a ‘Moment of Change’ guidance publication for local authorities.
The guidance enables authorities to support commuters to make active travel choices when returning to workplaces post-pandemic and is also released today under the Summer of Cycling and Walking banner.
https://www.sustrans.org.uk/our-blog/news/2021/july/30m-investment-shor…
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/338-million-package-to-further-fuel-…
https://macclesfield.nub.news/n/macclesfield-walking-and-cycling-650000…