Extra £10M Pledged For Active Travel

A further £10 million is to be spent on cycling and walking infrastructure over the next year, transport minister Derek Mackay has announced.

He said the funding will take the total budget for active travel in 2015/16 to almost £36 million, a 12% increase on the active travel budget at the start of the 2014-15 financial year.

The Scottish Greens, however, claimed the allocation falls short of the £39.1 million spent on walking and cycling during the course of last year.

Mr Mackay said: "This Scottish Government is firmly committed to supporting active and sustainable travel.

"This latest funding shows our determination to achieve our shared vision of 10% of everyday journeys being undertaken by bike by 2020.

"My officials at Transport Scotland will be writing out shortly to Sustrans, Cycling Scotland and other organisations receiving funding in 2015-16 to confirm budget allocations, but suffice to say that I am very excited about what we collectively can achieve in the coming year and beyond.''

Mr Mackay also confirmed allocations from the £20.25 million Future Transport Fund in 2015-16.

He said £5 million will be spent to continue to support the transition away from fossil fuel vehicles to cleaner, low emission vehicles while £3 million will be spent on the Scottish Green Bus Fund, which provides grants to operators to meet the additional costs of introducing cleaner, low carbon buses to their fleets.

The Greens said the percentage of the national transport budget spent on cycling and walking projects has yet to reach 2% in any financial year.

Green MSP Alison Johnstone said: "I'm disappointed that the new transport minister hasn't managed to keep cycling and walking funding going up, and that Scots continue to miss out on the high-quality infrastructure that other countries enjoy.

"The Scottish Government has failed in every year of this Parliament to spend even 2% of a £2 billion annual transport budget on making cycling and walking a more attractive and safer option.

"We just won't see the potential rewards for people's health and well-being without serious investment.''