Rutland County Council have been awarded an improvement to their Local Authority Active Capability rating going from level 0 to level 1, with results being published for all authorities nationwide.
Capability ratings are used to calculate funding allocations for local authorities. These particular ratings are used to guide the initial allocation of dedicated active travel funding.
Active Travel England is the government’s executive agency responsible for making walking, wheeling and cycling the preferred choice for everyone to get around. Rutland County Council has previously secured funding from Active Travel England to design local schemes that will provide residents with more choices for active travel such as walking and cycling.
The funding will be used to develop designs and plans for locations outlined as a priority within the Council’s Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP). These designs can then be used to bid for any future Government funding that may come forward to build new walking and cycling provisions.
The ratings are an assessment of how effective authorities currently are at planning, designing and delivering the type of schemes that will support the objectives set out in the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.
“We are very pleased to see that our working relationship with Active Travel England has developed over the last 18 months allowing us to gain an increase in our rating. This is a reflection of all the hard work and dedication shown by those staff involved here at RCC with the active travel project. We hope to take this positive news and use it to shape our upcoming schemes and strategies in this area.”
Cllr Christine Wise, portfolio holder for Highways, Transport, and the Environment
Over £100,000 of funding will be paid to Rutland as a grant, using a combination of Active Travel England (ATE) ATF4E grant funding, and the integrated transport capital programme budget funded by the UK Government.
Details of all the capability ratings can be found on the government website as well as further information on RCC’s active travel strategy.