South East councils given £133m for cycling and walking schemes

The full allocation breakdown has been published by Active Travel England, a government agency which wants more local journeys to be walked, wheeled or cycled by 2030.

Surrey County Council (SCC) has been awarded £19,800,132, while Medway Council has received £1,727,695. A total of £25,924,411 has been allocated to Kent County Council (KCC).

West Sussex and East Sussex County Council have been given £5,464,466 and £3,376,793 respectively, with Brighton & Hove City Council (BHCC) awarded £4,538,302.

The funding has all been allocated over a four-year period.

Active Travel England has also ranked the local authorities according to their ability to deliver active travel schemes.

Higher-rated councils, including SCC, KCC and BHCC, have received greater proportions of capital funding while the lower scoring authorities will be given training to improve this ability.

The £626m national package is enough to deliver 500 miles (804km) of new and upgraded footpaths and cycle track across England.

Ms Gordon said this resulted in a “significantly lower” cost when compared with building new roads.