Hartlepool's green travel scheme to continue after £3.2m boost

The Hartlepool Active Travel Hub, which began in 2015, works closely with companies and employees.

It aims to promote sustainable forms of travel, such as cycling, walking, public transport and car sharing.

Following a successful bid for money by the Tees Valley Combined Authority, the scheme has been allocated part of a pot given to the Tees Valley from the government’s Sustatinable Travel Access Fund.

Hartlepool Borough Council’s sustainable travel officer Tony Davison said: “The confirmation of funding for a further three years is great news and it means we can now plan with some certainty how we aim to actively build on the excellent progress that has been made in terms of promoting sustainable travel.

“The benefits of sustainable and active modes of travel such as cycling, walking and public transport are considerable.

“In particular, the greater use of these forms of travel is crucial to us achieving our economic regeneration priorities for the town in a sustainable way by helping to ensure that developments do not adversely affect local roads in terms of congestion and safety.”

The scheme, led by the council, originally ran for a year until March 2016, and was supported by the government’s Local Sustainable Travel Fund (LSTF).

It was extended by 12 months through money received from the Sustainable Transport Transition Year Fund, which will contonue until the end of March, when the latest three-year funding stream is due to become available.

The Tees Valley Combined Authority has pumped more than £8million into improving walking and cycling networks.

That includes creating a 475-metre shared cycle/walkway along a stretch of the A689 in Hartlepool, and a new pedestrian/cycle crossing on the A179 dual carriageway in the north of the town. Work is due to start soon on both schemes.