Bury and Radcliffe are to benefit from a multi-million-pound investment in active travel infrastructure across the region.

The £40 million investment, which was annnounced this morning, will go towards projects across Greater Manchester for walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure will deliver the largest active travel network in the country.

Pedestrians, cyclists and Metrolink users will all benefit from two projects in the borough which have won a total £1.85m in funding.

Funding will go towards redevelopment of Radcliffe Metrolink as well as junctions on Parkhills Road and Heywood Street.

The £1.25m Radcliffe Metrolink Active Access Package will include a new access ramp to the east side of Radcliffe Metrolink stop for walking, wheeling and cycling and a new crossing on Church Street West.

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The scheme will provide a direct route from the East Lancashire Paper Mill housing site to the Metrolink stop, the proposed new high school and other north-bound active travel routes.

As it currently operates, anyone accessing the Metrolink stop has to do so via the western access to come through the underpass.

The Radcliffe Metrolink Active Access Package scheme will complement a wider package of active travel improvements that we will be consulting on later this year and for which there is £9 million of funding available to the council in Greater Manchester’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement programme.

A further £0.6m will be spent on junctions at Parkhills Road and Heywood Street. This scheme will upgrade two mini roundabouts to signalised junctions with ‘green man’ pedestrian crossings, one at Market Street and the other at Wilson Street, to make it easier and safer for pedestrians and cyclists to cross busy roads.

These improvements are part of a wider package of active travel improvements being delivered in Fishpool and Pimhole with funds from the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Cycling and Walking Fund.

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Councillor Alan Quinn, cabinet member for the environment, climate change and operations, said: “We need to make it as easy as possible for people to walk, cycle and use public transport if we are to tackle congestion and clean up the air we breathe.

“This investment in Bury and across Greater Manchester will help us to give people better, more realistic and sustainable travel choices, which will also be good for our health.”

Active Travel England (ATE) has confirmed it will award £23.7m for 13 schemes across the city-region as part of a wider boost to active travel funding across the country, with Greater Manchester’s sum the largest regional settlement in the UK.

In addition, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is due to approve the release of £17m from the Mayor’s Challenge Fund for four major active travel schemes when leaders meet next week.

Both sources of investment will enable Greater Manchester to progress with its long-term ambition to create the largest walking, wheeling and cycling network in the country, and further unlock the health and environmental benefits of active travel for people across the city-region.