By Isle of Wight Observer
The Isle of Wight Council is to receive more than £13.6 million levelling up money to improve green travel between Ryde and Yarmouth by upgrading cycling, walking and bus routes and making accessibility improvements.
Monday’s announcement follows a successful bid by the council to transform connectivity between East and West Wight with an improved travel corridor called the Island Green Link, but there are doubts about how councils across the country are delivering on the projects.
The latest proposals include improvements to bus infrastructure and will involve a small number of trial ‘mobility hubs’ to provide space and facilities for switching easily between modes of transport. The West Wight Greenway between Freshwater and Newport for cyclists and walkers would mainly follow the dismantled railway line and make use of existing rights of way. The Newport Hub and Spokes Scheme could help to make Newport Centre more easily navigable for walkers and cyclists.
Cllr Phil Jordan, council leader and cabinet member for transport and infrastructure, said: “The new Greenway will encourage cycling and walking and provide for safer and more sustainable transport options which, in turn, will help to improve health, wellbeing and air quality. Residents, commuters and visitors will all benefit from the investment being made.”
The award was announced just days after the National Audit Office released a damning report revealing that just 64 projects had been completed out of a total 1,283 projects supported by earlier levelling up funding that had been claimed to be ‘shovel ready’.
The report concluded that the delays were partly due to the government’s inefficiency in allocating funds.
In 2021 the IW Council received £5.8 million of levelling-up funding to improve the East Cowes seafront, including the Columbine building and neighbouring barracks site and to create a new public square along the Esplanade. The work is supposed to be completed by March 2024 but it is clearly well behind schedule. The IW Council has been asked for a comment.
Isle of Wight Observer