Nearly £300,000 could be spent to deliver cycling and walking schemes in Mid Suffolk as part of Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan

Close to £300,000 could be spent on the delivery of cycling and walking schemes in a Suffolk district.

Members of Mid Suffolk’s cabinet will be discussing the approval of the money to deliver on the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP), during a meeting on Tuesday next week.

The plan was approved in early 2022 and contained 130 actions the council could put in place.

However, two years later, due to a lack of resources, the council has run into a ‘design bottleneck’.

The report states: “Whilst considerable prioritisation and consultation has taken place, the majority of these schemes are stalled as they are not currently designed, costed and in a position to develop the capital funding applications to deliver them.”

Cabinet members are being asked to approve £299,000 over three years to enter into a year-long service agreement with the highways department at the county council for the creation of a pilot scheme.

The money would be used for commission surveys, site investigations, preliminary and detailed designs, options assessments, and construction cost estimates provided by the highways contractor, Milestone — minor amendments by the council would also be allowed to make plans effective.

According to the papers, if approved, the scheme would mean smaller projects could be delivered during the 2025,26 financial year, while larger and more complex ones could be built by the following year — progress on this would be monitored every three months.