The county council has missed out on government active travel funding, after none of the winning bids included plans for low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs).
The UK government announced a £200 million package of funding for walking and cycling schemes, but Oxfordshire County Council has not been given any new money in this latest round, despite making a bid for more cash.
The winning projects “do not include any low traffic neighbourhood schemes” and successful local authorities have “worked closely with local people to ensure the schemes benefit the community as a whole”.
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Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “We want to make sure everyone across the country can choose cheaper, greener and healthier travel while we continue to support our local businesses and grow the economy.
“This £200 million investment will improve road safety, ease congestion and ultimately improve the health and wellbeing of the millions of people choosing active travel.”
On Twitter, after sharing a Telegraph article titled ‘Low traffic neighbourhoods stripped of government funding in boost for drivers’, Mr Harper wrote: “Our latest round of Active Travel Fund winners focus on projects that give people more choice over how they travel, not banning cars from places”.
Our latest round of Active Travel Fund winners focus on projects that give people more choice over how they travel, not banning cars from places 👇https://t.co/GSSrcyOWUp
— Mark Harper (@Mark_J_Harper) May 20, 2023
The latest funding will go towards 265 schemes in 60 areas, including Yorkshire, Manchester, Devon and Leicestershire.
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Andrew Gant, county councillor and cabinet member for highways management, said the council was “working with Active Travel England” to work out why their bid fell short.
He said: “We are disappointed to hear we have not been successful in securing funds from the latest government funding stream for active travel.
“We are working with Active Travel England to understand where we fell short to make sure we secure the funding we need from future bidding rounds.”
Mr Gant highlighted the council has previously secured £13.8 million of funding to “deliver meaningful improvements for active travel throughout Oxfordshire”.
He said: “This allows us to continue developments that enable safer, healthier and cleaner travel options for everyone in the city and the county.”
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Duncan Enright, county councillor and cabinet member for travel and development strategy, said the “disappointing news” would not “deter” the council from “continuing our work on important projects to improve air quality and road safety for all users”.
He said: “We look forward to working with Active Travel England on future plans.”
The government has estimated active travel can bring a £36.5 billion boost to the economy in a year through increased high street spending and better access to jobs.
The government also announced it was stopping all central government funding for LTNs.
A county council spokesman has said the council did not bid for funding for LTNs in this round of Active Travel funding.
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