Community
£1.8 million for walking and cycling facilities across Scotland
2 September 2019
149 community groups, employers and social housing providers across Scotland will share £1.8 million in support to improve facilities for walking and cycling.
Through our Cycling Friendly programme and the Social Housing Fund, communities, workplaces and social housing fund providers will support more people to walk and cycle for everyday journeys. The three funds, allocated from the Scottish Government's active travel budget, will benefit more than 90,000 people all across Scotland.
Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity Michael Matheson said: “Alongside the development of quality infrastructure, high-impact behavioural change initiatives such as Cycling Scotland’s Cycling Friendly programme and Social Housing Fund are critical to encouraging greater participation in sustainable walking and cycling in our communities. Walking and cycling is key to improving our air quality, protecting our climate and improving our health. Encouraging active travel options for an estimated 90,000 people across Scotland is an incredible achievement and I look forward to seeing improved facilities in workplaces and communities. The 2017 Programme for Government committed us to build an Active Nation, where more people can benefit from opportunities to walk and cycle than ever before. We’re delivering on that commitment and the work of a range of partners, including Cycling Scotland, is contributing directly towards that shared objective.”
Kath Brough, Head of Behaviour Change at Cycling Scotland said: “We’re delighted to announce funding to 149 organisations across Scotland to encourage more people to cycle. Cycling Scotland works closely with partners to help employers, community groups and housing associations take advantage of the benefits of cycling and this round of funding will provide opportunity for over 90,000 people across Scotland to access improved cycling facilities.”
Elderpark Housing Association, based in Govan, is one of the 33 social housing providers that successfully applied for funding form the Social Housing Fund. The Association will receive £25,000 to install cycle parking for the 2,700 residents living across their properties, where currently there is no cycle parking. Jim Fraser, Estate Management Inspector at Elderpark Housing Association, said “lack of storage has been a key issue for residents, especially those in older tenement buildings, so installing bike parking will remove a significant barrier to the uptake in bike ownership and cycling as a healthy activity. Govan is well established as an area of high deprivation and residents can often be found to have low household income and higher levels of household debt. This can impact greatly on people’s ability to access public transport beyond a limited geographical area and frequency due to a lack of sufficient finance. The grant award from Cycling Scotland’s Social Housing Fund provides us with a fantastic opportunity to give our residents safe, secure onsite storage, further promoting cycling as an activity that is good for health and emotional wellbeing, and encouraging residents to travel further afield in a relatively cheap and environmentally friendly way.”
Workplaces: 38 different employers have been awarded a total of £443,000 for 68 worksites across the country. Nearly 27,500 staff will benefit from new cycle parking, shower/changing facilities, pool bikes and maintenance equipment.
Community groups: £537,000 has been awarded to 48 community groups, reaching people in major cities including Glasgow, Inverness, Edinburgh and Dundee as well as towns Falkirk, Kilmarnock and Fort William and rural locations including Shetland, Elgin, Applecross and the Isle of Bute. Communities that will benefit include BME communities, projects working in areas of deprivation, people with mental health issues, disabilities, isolated locations, members of the homeless community, former members of the Armed Forces, people dealing with addiction, refugees and asylum seekers.
Social housing providers: 33 housing associations have been funded £822,000 which will be used across 155 different residences and sites. More than 62,000 people and 600 staff will benefit from the funding which will focus especially on areas of deprivation. The fund is a partnership programme with SFHA, Living Streets Scotland and Sustrans Scotland.
You can see a breakdown of the organisations who will benefit here.