Extra £20m funding for active travel infrastructure
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The Scottish Government has launched extra investment to make walking, wheeling and cycling for everyday transport easier than ever before.
The Active Travel Transformation Fund will provide £20 million directly to local authorities, regional transport partnerships and national park authorities – working in partnership with Transport Scotland – to deliver construction-ready active travel infrastructure schemes across the country.
Minister for active travel Patrick Harvie announced the funding during a Scottish Parliament debate on Active Travel transformation, having visited Glasgow City Council’s Connecting Battlefield project earlier in the day.
Mr Harvie said: “I am delighted to announce our latest £20m investment through the Active Travel Transformation Fund. We’ve worked closely with local authorities to ensure this new approach works for them – making it easier to deliver more ambitious infrastructure projects faster than ever before.
“Later this summer, Scotland will be the cycling centre of the world with the first ever cycling world championships being hosted here. I want to make sure that the excitement around those elite events is matched by our ambition for everyday walking, wheeling and cycling. That is why I am just as excited about what we can do to deliver more safe, segregated and accessible infrastructure and make it easier for more people to do so.
“The is all part of our record funding for active travel in 2023/24 and we remain committed to investing at least £320m or 10% of the transport budget for active travel by 2024/25.”
The new £20m fund is on top of existing funds such as Cycling Walking Safer Routes with an annual budget of £35m and ongoing support for Sustrans Scotland’s Places for Everyone programme. The Active Travel Transformation Fund focuses on helping local authorities build up capacity and pace to make sure increased investment is resulting in change on the ground.
The following is a list of partners supported through the Active Travel Transformation Fund for 2023/24. The funding allocated to partners might be subject to further scrutiny in advance of issuing a formal award letter.
| Partner | 2023/24 Construction Ready Projects | Bid Value (£,000) | Project Type | ||
| The City of Edinburgh Council | Picardy Place Public Space | 3,338 | Cycleways, footway improvements, public realm. | ||
| Tram Safety Improvements at Haymarket Junction | 167 | Cycle safety, traffic signals. | |||
| City Centre West East Link (CCWEL) - Melville Crescent | 2,100 | Cycleways, footway improvements, public realm. | |||
| Glasgow City Council | Pitt Street | 500 | Cycleways, footway improvements, crossings, public realm. | ||
| Connecting Battlefield - Accelerated delivery of first section to extend South City Way to New Victoria Hospital | 2,500 | Cycleways, crossings, footway improvements, bus stop improvements. | |||
| North East Active Travel Route (NEATR) | 1000 | Active travel connections, crossings. | |||
| Renfrewshire Council | North Renfrewshire Active Travel (Phase 3 - Red Smiddy Roundabout to Southolm Roundabout Erskine and Park Mains High School Footbridge on A726) | 516 | Cycleways, footway improvements. | ||
| AMIDS South - Gallowhill | 827 | Active travel links. | |||
| Hawkhead Estate to Seedhill Road active travel link | 200 | Active travel links. | |||
| Paisley to Renfrew Active Travel Route | 500 | Active travel links. | |||
| North Lanarkshire Council | Motherwell Station Active Travel Links Phase 1c | 520 | Active travel links. | ||
| Alexander Street, Wishaw - Active Travel Improvements | 630 | Active travel links. | |||
| A73 Carlisle Road, Airdrie, Active Travel Improvements | 600 | Active travel links, better crossings. | |||
| Stirling Council | Cowie to Bannockburn Footpath | 300 | New footway. | ||
| Smiddy Path (part of Aberfoyle to Stirling route) | 140 | Active travel links. | |||
| Fallin to Stirling NCN Improvements | 340 | New access points, better surfaces. | |||
| Aberfoyle Safe & Resilient Route to School | 200 | New footpath. | |||
| Carbeth West Highland Way Improvements | 50 | New footpath. | |||
| Core path and major walking route upgrades | 50 | Core path improvements. | |||
| Accessible Barriers Programme | 20 | Barrier removal. | |||
| East Renfrewshire Council | A77 Active Corridor – Phase 2 | 950 | Cycleways, footway improvements. | ||
| Cairngorms NPA | Dulnain Bridge to Grantown on Spey NMU | 630 | Active travel links. | ||
| The Highland Council | Beauly to Inverness (Phase 2) | 600 | Active travel link. | ||
| Scottish Borders Council | Eddleston to Midlothian Phase 2 | 600 | Multiuse path extension. | ||
| Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) | Willowglen – Active travel accessibility Improvements | 70 | Traffic calming, crossings. | ||
| North Street – Active Travel Continuity Project | 50 | New footway. | |||
| Habost Phase 3 Final Section – Active travel Pedestrian Pathway | 175 | New footpath. | |||
| UHI Outer Hebrides – Active travel accessibility Improvement | 90 | Traffic calming, new footpath. | |||
| Shetland Islands Council | Baltasound Leisure Centre | 15 | New footpath. | ||
| Moorfield Ring Road, Brae | 55 | New footpath. | |||
| A970 South Road Roundabout | 21 | New footpath. | |||
| Gardentown Road, Symbister | 16 | New footpath. | |||
| A970 Gulberwick Heathery Park | 56 | New footpath. | |||
| A970 Gulberwick Hillside | 79 | New footpath. | |||
| East Dunbartonshire Council | Regent Gardens Kirkintilloch Town Centre Links Project | 200 | Traffic calming, public realm. | ||
| West Dunbartonshire Council | Kilbowie Rd Clydebank | 100 | Cycleway. | ||
| Clackmannanshire Council | Alva to Menstrie – (Alva Academy Link) Phase 2 | 1,660 | Active travel link. | ||
| 19,865 |
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