Sustrans’ Connect2 Lottery Bid On Course
Source: Sustrans:
News Posted: 14 May 2007
Sustrans, the UK’s leading sustainable transport charity, has selected the final 79 community projects from around the UK that will make up its ‘Connect2’ bid to the Big Lottery Fund’s Living Landmarks: The People’s Millions competition. Connect2 is up against five other schemes with the winner to be ultimately decided by a televised public vote on ITV1 in December.
The Big Lottery fund will consider each of the competing bids and decide which make it to the television vote, with the eventual winner set to receive up to £50 million in funding. The Connect2 projects are located all around the UK - from Devon to Glasgow, and Derry to Whitstable. Nearly 5 million people live within a mile of the 79 projects being submitted to the Big Lottery Fund. Connect2 aims to change the lives of people of all ages across the UK - including cyclists, commuters, schoolchildren, leisure walkers, and wheelchair users – by offering improved and sustainable transport links in areas that really need them. From river bridges to road crossings, each project will be inspirational in design but sensitive to the character of the area and the needs of the local community. Busy roads, railways and rivers are among the obstacles that would be overcome, reuniting communities and making it easier for people to travel by foot or bike as part of their everyday lives.
The local environment would also benefit from attractive landscaping, seating and public art. The final Connect2 list has been whittled down from over 400 original submissions from councils and other organisations. After consultation, a shortlist of 130 projects was compiled, from which the final list of 79 has been decided. All these projects will benefit if Sustrans’ Connect2 bid is successful in the TV vote later this year. A special Connect2 Day on September 27 will give each of the projects the opportunity to highlight the benefits of Connect2 to the local community and media. John Grimshaw, Sustrans’ Chief Executive, says: “Connect2 would transform the way people move around their communities and have a positive impact on people’s health and the environment, now and for generations to come. As nearly two thirds of all car journeys are less than 5 miles, the potential for changing the way people travel is huge and much more likely to happen if there are sustainable alternatives. Connect2 is the most exciting Sustrans project since we received a £43 million Lottery Grant in 1995, to develop the National Cycle Network. So far we have had thousands of messages of support for the projects. We are asking people to continue to back Connect2 by pledging support on our website – www.sustransconnect2.org.uk. The more people we can engage, the more likely Connect2 is to succeed.”
The Connect2 project is currently being considered alongside five other projects: the Eden Project’s Dry Topics Biome, Somerset Waterlinks, the National Museum of Science & Industry Collections Centre, The Black Country as Urban Park and Sherwood Forest: The Living Legend.
The Big Lottery Fund’s Living Landmarks Programme will award £140 million across the UK to initiatives that have been designed to inspire communities to transform, revitalise and regenerate the places where they live, through social and community projects and major infrastructure investments.