How to tap into Active Travel Fund to make school run safer

Community groups, businesses, charities and schools have until Friday, April 10 to apply for support for schemes that make it safer and easier for people to walk, wheel and cycle.

David Skaith, the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, launched the £1 million Active Travel Fund to support projects in the region that improve walking routes and increase accessibility.

Recommended reads:

These can include initiatives such as installing dropped kerbs, building skills and confidence through cycle training or creating safe spaces to learn, encouraging behaviour change – such as School Streets, bike buses and park and stride schemes; and providing secure cycle storage.

Mr Skaith said: “Walking, wheeling and cycling should be part of a safer, happier school run.

“It’s fun, it’s healthy, and it’s precious quality time for children at the start and end of the day.

“That’s why I’m kick-starting a revolution in active travel. Through the Mayor’s Active Travel Fund, I’m putting power into the hands of local people to create safer routes to build healthier, greener, and better connected places for generations to come.

“We’re backing communities with this £1 million investment, supporting practical, local initiatives that make a real difference on our streets and outside our school gates.”

The funding forms part of a wider £4 million programme to double investment in walking, wheeling and cycling across the region.

More than £2 million is already available to public bodies, including local councils, with successful applications due to be announced in the next few weeks.

The Mayor launched the fund at Oatlands Junior School in Harrogate, where a range of measures has led to more than 90 per cent of children walking, wheeling or cycling to school.

These include a bike library, park and stride, 20mph speed limits and regular Dr Bike sessions to keep cycles in top condition.

Rhiannon Letman-Wade, active travel commissioner for York and North Yorkshire, said: “The schemes running in Harrogate are exactly the kind of projects we want to see more of across the region.

“They show how a community can secure much-needed improvements and create safer streets for children and the wider community.

“This fund is about empowering communities to take the lead, supported by targeted investment, so that together we can provide opportunities for people across our city, towns, rural and coastal areas to make more affordable and sustainable travel choices.”

For details and an application form, visit yorknorthyorks-ca.gov.uk/project/mayors-active-travel-fund/

The Active Travel Fund is part of the Mayor’s £7 million Moving Forward campaign to create a healthier and more thriving York and North Yorkshire through investment in schemes that support movement, health and connection to the outdoors.

What do you think?

Feel strongly about an issue? Write us a letter. Please write no more than 250 words and you must provide your full name, address and mobile number. Send your views by email to: letters@thepress.co.uk