Essex County Council welcomes Government funding for cycling and walking to get the county moving

The first tranche of a multi-million funding package that will help to transform the way people can cycle and walk in the county has just been announced by the Government.

The £1.9m from the Emergency Active Travel fund will allow Essex County Council to enhance current cycle lanes and pavements and create new ones. Everybody has the chance to improve the environment, create cleaner air and reduce congestion by, cycling and walking more, if they are able, using the car only if they have to or have no other means of transport over short distances.

At present, many town and city centre roads in Essex are empty or have dramatically less traffic, although as lockdown restrictions get gradually lifted it is anticipated that traffic levels will increase, but perhaps not back to pre-coronavirus levels. However many pavements and cycleways in Essex are too narrow to allow social distancing, so change is necessary to encourage new, healthier ways of travelling locally.

In order to prioritise pedestrians and cyclists more, Essex Highways is planning to utilise some road space by making temporary changes to the road network in Essex town and city centres to benefit users and residents.

The first tranche of funding from the Emergency Active Travel Fund, £1.9m has been received by Essex County Council. It is understood by the authority that this will represent approximately 20 per cent of the final funding which will be supplied by the Department for Transport.