Council budget £1m for bypass cycle path upgrade

Sefton Council are to set aside over £1m to upgrade the cycle path alongside the Formby Bypass.

The decision comes as Cabinet member John Fairclough has now confirmed funding for Sefton Council’s 2022/23 transportation initiatives, with over £14m allocated across the borough.

Sefton’s councillors have one week to ‘call in’ the allocation, subjecting the budget to additional scrutiny. The funding allocation will be accepted if not called in by next Wednesday.

The allocation includes a range of plans in and around Southport, including a new cycle route next to KGV College, and structural repairs of the bridge at Hillside Railway station.

Locally, the budget allocation includes:
– Part of £120k to build a cycle lane along Scarisbrick New Road, next to KGV
– £30k for electric car charging ports across the borough
– The continuation of improvements on Scarisbrick Avenue as part of a £869k block of funding
– £200k to complete improvements to the Transpennine Trail
– £330k to repair the bridge on the A565 at Hillside railway station
– £30k in 2022/3 to review plans to encourage walking and cycling
– £1.1m to upgrade cycle facilities on the A565 Formby Bypass
– £270k to model/assess and support the development of the Southport Town Fund proposals
– £579.79k towards developing the major scheme business case for the Southport Eastern Access scheme

The council will also spend three-quarters of a million pounds in 2022/23 resurfacing roads within Sefton.

Improvements works to the Formby Bypass will be primarily financed by Active Travel funding, formerly earmarked for the now-scrapped ‘North-South’ cycle lane plan that would have run along Preston New Road.

Instead, Sefton Council will now use £934k of that funding to install £1.1m of improvement works to “upgrade cycling facilities”. No further details were immediately available.

Cllr John Fairclough, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Locality Services, said:  “We are committed to a borough-wide programme of investment and improvement in our transportation and Highway infrastructure.

“Among future schemes will be improvements to the cycle pathway provision along the Formby Bypass, where works will focus on improving the route between Formby Village and the junction with the Coastal Road at Woodvale.

“These works come at a time when nationwide data has shown a considerable rise in the amount of people using cycles to commute to and from work, as well as other journeys, a trend we expect to grow in the face of skyrocketing cost of living prices.

“We aim to begin work on this scheme in late Autumn 2022.”