READING Borough Council has announced that funding has been secured to develop active travel facilities in parts of the town.
More than £530,000 has been secured by the council to fund plans to improve cycling and pedestrian facilities in Sidmouth Street and Christchurch Green.
It comes after Active Travel England awarded the funding to develop projects within the council’s aim to encourage more active travel around town.
The funds will allow the council to create detailed designs for two separate projects with a view to bidding for further funds in the future for their implementation.
Plans will consider the cycle segregated, temporary cycle lane implemented on Sidmouth Street in 2020, and then made permanent in September 2022.
The council is aiming to link the lane with an expanded cycle network around town as further funding becomes available.
Of the sum, £238,000 is earmarked for improving cycle and pedestrian connections at the junction of Sidmouth Street and Queens Road.
A further £230,000 has been allocated to design pedestrian and cycling improvements at the Christchurch Green junction.
It follows £75,000 of funding from the Active Travel Fund in October last year which was used to begin the installation of a zebra crossing in Upper Redlands Road, as part of a bid from RBC, St Joseph’s College, and the University of Reading.
Work on that project is due to be complete later this year.
Works on the Bath Road and Castle Hill junction, also funded by the ATF in 2022, are due to start later this year.
James Crosbie, assistant director for Planning, Transport and Public Protection, said: “The extra funding from Active Travel England is very welcome and will help us progress two projects which will deliver significant improvements for cyclists and pedestrians in the future.
“The Council has always considered a fully segregated Sidmouth Street cycle lane to be a vital link in an improved and expanded cycle network across the town and this funding takes us one step closer to achieving that, although future funding opportunities are still required in order to achieve this ambition.
“This funding, combined with other active travel projects in the pipeline, support the Council’s aim of providing attractive alternatives to the private car, which cuts carbon emissions, improves air quality and benefits the health and wellbeing of residents.”
More information about the council’s plans is available via: reading.gov.uk
