MP Bob Seely has made a case to Government to fund an expansion of cycling routes on the Island to ease congestion, encourage tourism and improve health.
Bob met with Transport Minister Jesse Norman recently and was asked by the minister to outline a vision to promote cycling on the Isle of Wight.
The document has now been sent to the Minister so he can take the proposals to the Treasury.
“I would like to thank Natural Enterprise and CycleWight for producing the document in the format that ministers wanted at very short notice,” said Bob.
“I am not expecting action in the immediate future, but when more money does become available for cycling infrastructure projects, I want the Isle of Wight to be in the front of the queue.
“I hope we will also be looking to other funding options in the meantime, such as the Coastal Communities Fund, to see if we can get support through them.”
There are 517 miles of public rights of way on the Island but only 27.5 miles (5 percent are cycle routes. Some 14 percent of the Island’s 2.4 million visitors use cycling or walking as their main mode to explore the Island.
Four projects in the document were highlighted.
- The West Wight Gateway - an 8 mile east/west route linking Yarmouth and the whole of the West Wight to Newport.
- Gunville Greenway – a flat route to make it easier and safer for people to leave and enter the centre of Newport to the west and provide extra travel capacity to the schools and housing in the Carisbrooke and Gunville areas.
- Newport to Ryde – a route intended to allow quick and easy access to the centre of Newport and based on the old Newport to Wootton railway line.
- And the partially complete Newport to East Cowes route alongside the eastern bank of the Medina estuary linking East Cowes with Newport. It requires an additional one mile of construction.
“Without doubt, there is potential to develop cycle routes on the Island both for Islanders and visitors,” explained Bob.
"The report makes the case that further infrastructure investment offers extremely good value for money in terms of community benefit, economic growth and environmental sustainability.”