DfT funding for walking and cycling

There are many advantages to making walking and cycling an aspect of your daily routine. Just cycling or walking for 10 minutes can contribute towards the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity adults should participate in every week. It is also estimated that at the moment two out of every three personal journeys are less than five miles long. Not only is walking and cycling easy and enjoyable to incorporate into your routine but it can also help manage chronic health conditions such as; dementia, type 2 diabetes and obesity. Even businesses can see improved productivity from their workforce by encouraging their staff to use an alternative means of commuting.

The UK Government have proposed that they ‘want to make cycling and walking the natural choice for shorter journeys, or as part of a longer journey.’ This has been set out in their 2017 cycling and walking investment strategy. Consequently the Department for Transport are offering organisations, individuals or groups a share of £470,000 to fund pioneering projects that encourage people to make more journeys either by walking or cycling.

Any proposals put forward should tackle the current barriers to making journeys by bicycle or by foot. Some of the areas of interest that the Department of Transport are looking at in particular are; making it easier for individuals to cycle or walk to work, improved road safety perception and making it easier to combine cycling and using trains.

The competition for funding is now open and there is still a few weeks to enter. The application deadline is midday Wednesday 14^th June 2017.

More information on how to apply and the criteria here for the application process can be found here.

Walking and cycling workplace Travel Plans:

If you would like to discuss with us how to implement a workplace Travel Plan to encourage your staff to make smarter travel choices then please feel free to contact us.