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Communities across the nation – including people in North Lincolnshire – voted en masse for Sustrans’ Connect2 to win the TV vote to bring £50million from the Big Lottery Fund to create 79 walking and cycling networks for everyday journeys across the UK. 

Today, [22/05/09] the multi-million Connect2 scheme to create greenway the length of Scunthorpe’s green lung – the Ridgeway – with pedestrian and bike friendly crossings over busy roads along the way, is a step closer as sustainable transport charity. Sustrans and its Connect2 partners at North Lincolnshire Council sign the paperwork that will guide the development for the coming years.

This agreement, a Memorandum of Understanding, confirms partners’ continued commitment to the project and pledges £1m from Sustrans’ Connect2 lottery award to create a continuous walking and cycling network from the north to the south of the town for everyday journeys to schools, shops and work via pleasant open green spaces. This traffic-free greenway was originally conceived by Scunthorpe’s Master Planner, Patrick Abercrombie, seventy years ago. When complete, it will enable communities to travel on foot or by bike from Crosby, over the railway by Brumby Wood Lane and across West Common Lane and Bridges Road with the help of two new bridges before linking to Burringham Road.

Further links will enable people pushing prams, wheelchair users, walkers and cyclists along the greenway and into Central Park. The Ridgeway itself will extend all the way south to Moorwell Road, skirting several schools and colleges.

Sustrans and the council are currently busy working behind the scenes and in consultation with the local community to ensure the route is the best it can be. Connect2 is a five year project and the greenway will be completed by 2013, with the two bridges being built in 2012-13.

Sustrans’ area manager, Pat Davies said: “Once completed, this traffic-free greenway is going to be a real asset to the local community, enabling more than 60,000 people who live near the scheme to get around town in ways which are good for their health and that of the environment.”

Cllr Mick Grant, Cabinet Member for Housing and Strategic Planning from North Lincolnshire Council says: “This is an exciting time for the people of Scunthorpe. The Ridgeway will be a valuable asset; creating a new network of walking and cycling routes for local journeys we all make every day. Residential areas will be connected to schools, colleges, jobs, health care, the town, Central Park and the new sports academy. It will link green spaces together to provide an excellent way to travel that is easy, safe, attractive and enjoyable on foot or bike away from traffic.” This scheme has been made possible through the enormous popular support for Sustrans’ Connect2 – as voted for by the public in the UK’s largest lottery competition in December 2007. The anticipated cost of the Scunthorpe scheme is approximately £3.4m, with £1m coming from the Big Lottery Fund as part of Sustrans Connect2.

The lottery award will be added to locally sourced match-funding to transform local travel in 79 communities throughout the UK –changing the lives of six million people who live within a mile of a scheme. Over the next five years, nearly £30 million annually will be invested in creating these local walking and cycling networks from Devon to Perthshire.

Published on 22nd May 2009