Station Bridge Scheme Response
TRANSFORMING CITIES FUND BID – STATION TO CENTRAL PARK BRIDGE
Plymouth City Council recently applied for funding from the Transforming Cities Fund for a number of projects, one of which was a bridge across the station to Central Park. The Transforming Cities Fund consisted of 2 stages. These are one-off grants so cannot be used in other ways. In Tranche 1 Plymouth submitted a bid for £7.6M
Tranche 2 offered £1.25 billion between 10 cites / regions, some of which are very large e.g., West Yorkshire and The North East. Plymouth received £51M which, judged relative to the population put us in 3rd place. See criteria:
Plymouth Cycling Campaign (PCyC) welcomes the funding bid for the bridge linking Plymouth Railway Station to Central Park. First suggested in 1999, PCyC revived the proposal in 2016, arguing that the massive increase in road congestion, together with the increase in numbers cycling, now justifies it more than ever.
https://plymouthcyclingcampaign.co.uk/a-bridge-linking-central-park-to-central-plymouth/
Bid outcomes were announced in March 2020 with Plymouth granted £51M of which £36M was specified for the bridge. Subsequently PCC has decided to spend all of the £51M on a wider range of projects designed to encourage walking, cycling and public transport. https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/parkingandtravel/transportplansandprojects/transportplans/transformingcitiesfund
PCC hope to build the bridge with future funding and Plymouth Cycling Campaign will continue to promote it.
Some may feel that the Embankment had a higher priority, but we understand that the bridge scheme better met the bid criteria to be a new, transformative piece of infrastructure. PCyC will continue to campaign for a proper, fit for purpose cycle route along Plymouth Road/the embankment and into the city.
PCyC will respond further when full details are released
