Connect2 schemes join forces

Thirteen ‘Connect2’ local schemes, aiming to make it easier for people to walk and cycle in their local areas, and to improve links between communities across the Midlands, are joining forces in their bid for a £50 million prize.

Sustrans’ Connect2 project consists of 79 community-based schemes around the UK, and is competing for the Big Lottery Fund’s The People’s £50 Million contest against three other projects nationally. The winner will be decided by an online vote starting next Monday (26 November) and televised public vote in December. If Connect2 wins, communities in the Midlands will benefit from over £7.5m funding (£7,525,000).

The three Connect2 schemes in the Midlands include three in Lincolnshire, two in Northamptonshire and Warwickshire, and one each in Derbyshire, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and Birmingham.

Connect2 aims to transform local travel across the UK by creating new walking and cycling routes for everyday journeys. New bridges and crossings will also be built over busy roads, railway lines and rivers that currently stop people getting around by foot or bike.
Shropshire’s scheme would create a riverside promenade along Smithfield Road in Shrewsbury, allowing residents and visitors to reach this stretch of the river from the town centre and The Quarry. It would also create links to the bus and railway stations, and join up with areas of new housing and the major Flaxmill development in north Shrewsbury.

Phil Crossland, Assistant Director - Transport & Highways for Shropshire County Council, said, “We have some stiff opposition here in the Midlands, with bids from the Black Country and Sherwood Forest. It is important that we raise awareness of just how many people across the Midlands stand to gain from the Connect2 bid succeeding. Connect2 would be great for Shrewsbury and the other communities; it would make it easier for people to do their everyday local journeys on foot or by bicycle, with all the benefits that brings for the quality of life in local areas.”

John Grimshaw, Chief Executive of leading sustainable transport charity Sustrans, explained “Connect2 is all about making it easier for many more of us get fit and active as we go to local schools, shops, workplaces, parks and countryside. It also makes it practical for people around the UK to reduce their carbon footprint – if Connect2 wins the Lottery funding it would mean a saving of 79,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year.

“I believe that a vote for Connect2 is a vote to invest in our health, and the health of our environment, not only now – but for generations to come.”

Connect2 Champion, TV presenter Lorraine Kelly added, “I meet so many people from all walks of life, and I find one thing affects us all, travel. How many times have we stood on the edge of a busy road waiting for the traffic to ease or had to travel miles out of our way to get to the one bridge over the river? Connect2 deals with just these daily challenges and gives us the option to do the journey in a way that helps the environment. And, of course, it gets us fit – forget the gym, Connect2 is the answer to our obesity problems.”

Connect2 will feature in an ITV1 programme introduced by Lorraine Kelly on Tuesday 4 December.* Voting will take place online and by phone vote. Online voting will open at 9.00am on 26 November at www.thepeoples50million.org.uk. Telephone voting is expected to take place over the weekend 7-10 December.*

For more information about local schemes and to register your support for Connect2 please text Connect2 to 80010 or log onto www.sustransconnect2.org.uk