District council leader backs £1m bid to open up post-Covid Sleaford streets to cyclists and walkers

The Leader of North Kesteven District Council has added his support for plans to open up Sleaford streets to more cyclists and pedestrians as part of a £1million bid by the county council.
Sleaford is in line for a share of a £1m project bid to open up streets for cycling and walking. EMN-200629-180223001Sleaford is in line for a share of a £1m project bid to open up streets for cycling and walking. EMN-200629-180223001
Sleaford is in line for a share of a £1m project bid to open up streets for cycling and walking. EMN-200629-180223001

In the wake of the new found quieter roads caused by the Covid-19 lockdown on movement, the Department for Transport invited Lincolnshire County Council to make a bid for plans to alter the street scenes in Sleaford, as well as Lincoln, Grantham, Boston, Spalding and Holbeach, to make roads more cycle and pedestrian-friendly, improve levels of healthy exercise, lower congestion and pollution.

If the money, or a portion of it is secured, it will involve projects including: creating temporary cycle lanes using bollards, planters or cones; closing roads to allow only pedestrians and cyclists; widening or creating new pedestrian crossings to maximise space for people; providing more cycle parking and relocating parking or loading bays to provide extra space for walking and queuing in town and city centres.

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The measures will initially be temporary to allow them to be implemented as quickly as possible. The government announced the fund in late May. The County Council was provisionally allocated the money in two phases: £211,000 for phase one, and £842,000 for phase two. The temporary plans are part of phase one. Phase two will take place at a later date.

The NKDC Leader, Coun Richard Wright has been swift to support the project saying: “Having been long-focused on improving facilities and infrastructure across the district to promote more sustainable travel, the opportunities presented by this fund and people’s increased interest in cycling as a preferred mode of transport are encouraging and welcome.

“This has given fresh impetus for exploring options, with initial thoughts revolving around providing more cycle parking, clearer signage to promote more sharing of the carriageway and to take bikes off the pavements and further away from kerbs.

“In addition to promoting safe and confident cycling, these measures would free up pavements for pedestrians and enable greater social distancing to be maintained without pedestrian and cyclist conflicts.”

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He said: “Such initiatives are also in line with our long-held aspirations and strategies around the Sleaford Masterplan, the Local Plan and our cycling, health and wellbeing strategies and low-carbon plan, which have been subject to previous public endorsement.”

Before receiving any funding, the council must submit satisfactory plans to the Department for Transport.

The Lincolnshire bid was put in last week and a decision on funding is expected this week with a view to work being completed within eight weeks to take advantage of the still quieter roads.

The scale of work that can be done will be dependent on the eventual grant figure.

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Each intervention will be assessed and could be made permanent.

Coun Richard Davies, executive member for highways and transport, said: “We’ve focussed our plans on the places where these measures will make the most difference: these are compact urban areas where cycling and walking are feasible alternatives to both public transport and driving.

“The measures will also support retail businesses in our town and city centres, creating space for customers to social distance and queue safely.

“We’ll see the effects these temporary measures have and they will be factored into the plans and could well be made permanent.

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“Over the past few months, we’ve seen a huge rise in the number of people walking and cycling. Whilst traffic remains below pre-lockdown levels, we’re still seeing almost double the number of cyclists on the roads, according to data from the DfT.

“We want to help make it easier for people to keep those new cycling and walking habits; pop-up cycle lanes, traffic-free streets and more space will allow us to do that.”

If the eventual grant is lower, the council is likely to concentrate on the more easily implemented aspects, such as reallocating space for walking and queueing, as well as cordoning off parking bays and parts of wider roads to create cycle lanes and wider footpaths. The schemes are not designed to make traffic problems worse, but have the most impact with limited funding.

The Government launched the emergency active travel fund to support more sustainable transport as part of the country’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.