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

https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/parkingandtravel/transportplansandprojects/transportplans/transformingcitiesfund

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 3^rd place. See criteria:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/786857/transforming-cities-tranche-2-applications.pdf

Plymouth Cycling Campaign (PCyC) welcomes the funding 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/

Details of the other elements of the bid outcome are due to be released at the meeting of the full PCC council meeting on March 16^th. 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