Some high-level guidance has been provided by the Department for Transport (DfT), outlining that:
- £225m would be allocated to local authorities across the country in 2 tranches;
- Tranche 1 is £45m for closing roads to through traffic, installing segregated cycle lanes and widening pavements;
- The main purpose of Tranche 1 is to promote cycling as a replacement for journeys previously made by public transport;
- Devon County Council is provisionally allocated £338k in Tranche 11, plus £33k of local match funding (cycle parking), totalling £360k. Amounts are however indicative and there is a need for local authorities to evidence swift meaningful plans to reallocate road space to cyclists and pedestrians;
- The final amount allocated to DCC for Tranche 1 will be dependent on a bid to be completed by Friday 5 June;
- All measures should use temporary materials such as barriers and planters. Elaborate costly materials will not be funded;
- Schemes should be on the cycling/walking network plan;
- Anything not altering the status quo will not be funded;
- If work has not started within four weeks of receiving the allocation, or completed within eight weeks of starting, the DfT can claw back the funding by adjusting a future grant payment;
- Tranche 2 is less certain and guidance will be released later in the summer to enable more permanent measures, probably subject to a second bidding process;
- Robust monitoring and evaluation plans must be in place.
It goes on to advise that schemes could be:
- Point Closures: quickest and cheapest option. This could be of main roads, or parallel side streets if they are direct enough to provide an alternative. They can also be used to create low traffic neighbourhoods.
- Pop-up Segregated Cycle Lanes: more difficult to implement quickly and must be full or light segregation. The swift implementation, using temporary materials, of existing cycle plans involving reallocation of road space could also be funded.
Devon County Council produced the following Framework and Guidance document to provide communities with an overview of the legal process and associated timescales involved with the delivery of projects.