1 About active travel
Active travel is using physically active means for your everyday journeys, such as walking or scooting to school, using a wheelchair or mobility scooter for shopping trips, or cycling to work. Advantages to active travel include increased fitness, cheaper journeys and environmental benefits.
In 2022 the Government established Active Travel England to help achieve its vision for walking and cycling as set out in Gear Change. This includes an aspiration for half of all journeys in towns and cities to be walked or cycled by 2030.
Active Travel England manages two funding streams:
- the Active Travel Fund, which is a capital pot that highway authorities can submit bids to on a competitive basis
- the Capability Fund, which is revenue funding allocated to highways authorities using a formulaic approach.
Improving active travel in West Sussex
Our active travel improvements aim to:
- make walking, wheeling and cycling to work, education and leisure activities more attractive
- improve health and wellbeing by offering eco-friendly travel choices
- broaden travel choices by offering safe, quick and easy walking and cycling options, particularly for short journeys
- support zero emission journeys and reduce reliance on car travel.
In 2020 we were awarded £2.35 million from phase 2 of the Active Travel Fund (ATF2) to deliver a number of active travel priorities including:
- extension of the A24 Worthing to Findon Valley cycle route to Findon village
- new signalised crossings on A283 Steyning Road in Shoreham and A259 Chichester Road at Merston
- new contraflow cycling facilities in River Road, Littlehampton and Cross Street, Worthing (currently under construction)
- pedestrian and cycling improvements in the vicinity of Downlands School, Hassocks
- a new parallel crossing on Upper Shoreham Road, Shoreham at the junction with Buckingham Road (due to be delivered in 2025). This will be the first parallel crossing in the county where pedestrians and people on bikes can cross in their own designated areas.
2 Active Travel Fund proposals
In March 2024 we were awarded £1,014,000 from the Active Travel Fund 4 Extension (ATF4E), which will enable the following improvements to be delivered:
- a new segregated cycle track on Lancing Beach Green between the western entrance and the skatepark, which will alleviate pedestrian/cycle conflict on the existing shared path in front of The Perch Café and kiosk
- a new puffin crossing outside West Worthing station
- a new puffin crossing on A286 Midhurst Road, Lavant to support families walking and wheeling to Lavant CofE Primary School and improve access to local bus stops
- upgrading the existing puffin crossing on B2259 Felpham Way, Bognor Regis to a toucan crossing to support walking, wheeling and cycling to Felpham Community College and Downview Primary School.
You can take part in upcoming consultations and find out more on the Highways, Transport and Planning Engagement Hub.
3 Capability Fund programme
This revenue funding is primarily intended to help the council increase its active travel knowledge base and capability, develop priority schemes to the point where they can be included in future bids for detailed design and construction funding, and support public engagement and consultation.
In 2021 we secured £274,906 from Active Travel England’s Capability Fund and a further £356,501 was awarded in 2023. The funding has been used to:
- develop concept designs for active travel schemes in Chichester, Horsham and Crawley and undertake stakeholder and public engagement. These schemes are high scoring priorities that feature in Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs). You can find out more on the Highways, Transport and Planning Engagement Hub
- develop a prioritised list of walking schemes based on the information contained with the district and borough council’s LCWIPs
- undertake route audits and value for money assessments on six cycle routes featured in the Mid Sussex LCWIP
- support our School Streets trial and develop scheme designs.
In March 2024 we were awarded an additional £474,329 to allow us to develop more plans and increase our capability. We are currently finalising our 2024/25 Capability Fund programme and will provide updates in due course.