Active Travel Round 4 Awards

Norfolk is getting £2¼m for cycling and walking projects. Well done to the county council bid team! The Eastern Daily Press lists three projects in West Norfolk:

Upgraded junction of NCN1 and A1078 Edward Benefer Way: this project is shown in the current King's Lynn Local Cycling and Walking Implementation Plan, the LCWIP, but it's been requested for at least a decade before that. The need has increased since the A1078 was widened to two lanes each way and will increase further with a huge roundabout being added nearby.

NCN1 approaching A1078 EBWay
NCN1 approaching A1078

Upgraded junction of NCN1 and the A149 near Sandringham: queues form at the current crossing every day in summer, with the centre island being too small for current cycle traffic levels, and only one long cycle (tandem, child trailer, cargo bike, recumbent, handcycle) being able to wait there at a time. Improvement is much needed. Ideally, we would also like to see through motor traffic diverted from NCN1 Coach Road to the already-signed Folly Hill route.

Cycleway between Hunstanton and Old Hunstanton: this short simple enabling link has been in plans since at least 2009, so it's great that it's moving forwards.

MJ appeared on BBC Radio Norfolk about 1020 on Friday 19 May 2023, mentioning this while also suggesting some great bike rides including the Norfolk Coast Cycleway through Sandringham.

In the other council areas, Suffolk has been awarded nearly £8m, but we're told it's all being spent in the south of the county (so not our area); Cambridgeshire and Peterborough have been awarded nearly £4m, but not in Fenland: keep an eye on our friends at Ely Cycle Campaign for details of our nearest schemes; and Lincolnshire appear to have zero funding this time, even worse than the 75% cut council leaders feared following a poor assessment score, which itself followed a spectacular failure in 2021 to build support for active travel improvements in Boston (65-29 against) and Spalding (79-15 against).

Lincs now has to make up for the failure of past funded projects out of its own budget before it will get more national funding. That should be a cautionary tale for Norfolk and its half-finished projects like the Gaywood NCN1/A1076 crossroads.

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