DEVON County Council has put in its bid for £1.3 million from the second round of Emergency Active Travel Funding.

If successful, the cash would create more permanent schemes that provide extra space for pedestrians and cyclists, to provide alternatives to public transport and to improve safety and encourage more active travel.

It follows the successful bid for all of the £338,000 allocation made available to Devon in the first tranche – funding a series of temporary ‘pop-up’ measures which have been installed in Newton Abbot, Exeter, Barnstaple and Bideford.

The sum of £1.3 m has been indicatively allocated to the county council, but in order for the full allocation to be awarded the council needs to demonstrate how the proposals will replace public transport journeys with walking and cycling trips and therefore is more targeted at the large, urban areas where this can be evidenced.

The proposals will need to demonstrate value for money, implement measures to create an environment safer for both walking and cycling, are swift and meaningful plans to reallocate road space to cyclists and pedestrians, with schemes that do not alter the status quo on the road not being funded.

Any funding would have to be spent or committed by March 2021, and could be used to make some of the temporary measures permanent, subject to consultation and approval from Highway and Traffic Order Committees.

Cllr Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highway Management, said: ‘The Emergency Active Travel Funding is extremely important to help encourage active travel as the economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. There was only so much we could achieve with the initial allocation of funding for temporary improvements, especially when we had more than 100 proposed schemes from communities.

‘There was a tight timescale on delivering the first round of temporary improvements, but we’ve seen ‘pop-up’ measures installed over the past few weeks. Hopefully we can gain a share of the larger pot of money which is available. This will help us introduce more permanent changes to encourage active travel and support efforts to tackle obesity and the climate emergency.’

WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE PHASE 2 BID?

In Barnstaple, proposals include cycle path improvements between the Tarka Trail and Anchorwood, and on the A39 North Road, as well as a shared crossing facility on Station Road.

The proposals for Newton Abbot are for toucan crossings at Exeter Road and Jetty Marsh Road.

In other town centres across the county, temporary measures could be extended or made permanent, with a number of communities across the county having introduced temporary schemes to promote walking and cycling.

A one way system has been installed on Lower Fore Street in Beer, Wellington Street and Regent Street in Teignmouth have been closed to enable active travel, improvements for pedestrians and cyclists have been introduced in Dawlish.

The High Street and Fore Street in Totnes are closed to traffic on Saturday mornings, while parking has been suspended in parts of Holsworthy, and New Street and Church Street in Sidmouth have been pedestrianised during part of the daytime.

The bid to the Department for Transport must demonstrate how the proposals will replace public transport journeys with walking and cycling trips, as their aims for the second tranche of funding are for proposals to create a safer environment safer for walking and cycling, avoid public transport overcrowding, as well as delivering health, environmental and congestion benefits.

Devon County Council has been provisionally allocated a further £1.3m for more permanent active travel schemes, although this amount remains dependent on the submission of a successful bid.