Southport Wins Cycling Bid (VIDEO)
Southport has won its ambitious £5 million bid to become an
official Cycling Town.
The announcement has been greeted with delight by councillors
and officers at Sefton Council and marks the culmination of months
of hard work and planning.
More than 70 towns and cities staked a claim for a share of
£47 million in Government cash from Cycling England. Southport, and
neighbouring Ainsdale, are among just 10 towns and one city to be
named among the winning bidders.
Last month a high-profile Sefton delegation presented an
overwhelming case to judges in Birmingham which included a special
DVD outlining the ambitious plans for Southport.
Cycling England will now pledge around £2 million for
Southport over three years which will be matched by funding from
other sources.
The investment will allow Sefton to work with developers and
other partners such as Sefton PCT to create an environment where
visitors and residents instinctively travel around the resort by
bike.
A select number of new high quality cycle routes will be
created, providing access to the town centre, seafront, and the key
development sites to the east of the town. Road space will also be
re-allocated on some routes to provide an infrastructure where
families and novice cyclists feel confident to travel around the
resort by bike.
There will also be concentrated publicity and marketing
campaign to support an expanded programme of cycle training which
will include every high school in the Southport area.
Cllr John Fairclough, Sefton's Cabinet Member for Technical
Services, said: "This is absolutely fantastic news for Southport
and Ainsdale - and the thousands of residents and visitors who are
set to benefit.
"Southport really is a town on the up and this funding will
ensure that cycling plays a major part in new developments such as
the regeneration of the former Pleasureland site, the expansion of
KGV college, Southport Business Park and proposed housing
developments in the east of the town.
"The Southport area is very flat and blessed with a wonderful
coastline which makes it absolutely perfect for cycling.
"Cycling also plays a vital part in the Merseyside Local
Transport Plan and this funding will allow us to build on the
excellent work that is already underway.
"Over the coming months and years we will be working on
exciting events and proposals to help more and more people choose
cycling as a safe, clean and healthy way to travel around this
fantastic part of Sefton."
The five year Local Transport Plan (LTP) runs until 2011 and
is a £230m delivery programme of transport investment and service
improvements.
It aims to give Merseyside a safer, sustainable, efficient and
integrated transport network, accessible to all.
The Merseyside LTP Partnership consists of Merseytravel and
the five district councils of Merseyside - Knowsley, Liverpool,
Sefton, St Helens, and Wirral.
TravelWise is the partnership’s campaign to help people on
Merseyside make sustainable transport choices - public transport,
walking, cycling and using cars wisely.
The LTP Support Unit coordinates LTP activity on behalf of the
Merseyside LTP partnership.
For further information visit www.transportmerseyside.org
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Last Updated on 2/2/2010