The Department’s Local Transport Note 2/08 ‘Cycle Infrastructure Design’ provides guidance regarding minimum standards for walking and cycling infrastructure. The Department is currently in the process of updating this national guidance and will publish the updated guidance in due course.

Local authorities are responsible for setting their own design standards. The Government has no plans to legislate for minimum standards for cycling and walking infrastructure.

The Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy of March 2017 sets out a range of aims and targets, including to increase walking activity and increase the percentage of 5-10 year olds walking to school. Almost £2 billion is projected to be invested over this parliament to 2021 to deliver increased levels of active travel, including through the Transforming Cities Fund and Local Growth Fund.

The Government has made funding available through a number of avenues to deliver LCWIPs, as outlined in the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS), including through the Integrated Transport Block and Highways Maintenance Fund.

Since publication of the CWIS, additional funding streams have been made available for investment on cycling and walking infrastructure, including the £1.7 billion Transforming Cities Fund, £220 million through the Clean Air Fund and £5 billion through the Housing Infrastructure Fund.

Decisions on future funding for cycling and walking will be made in the context of the next Spending Review, which will take place in 2019.

As part of the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, the Government has identified £1.2 billion of funding which can be harnessed by local transport authorities to support cycling and walking. It is for local authorities to decide on appropriate provisions for cycling and walking and to allocate funding or bid into appropriate funding streams.

The Department for Transport does not therefore hold records of all spend by local authority area. However, Coventry City Council have reported that they received £27.9m of Local Growth Funding (LGF), of which £3.55m is being spent on Cycling and Walking. Since the Strategy’s publication, the Government has made further support available for cycling and walking infrastructure in England, through the National Productivity Investment Fund, Housing Infrastructure Fund, Transforming Cities Fund and Clean Air Fund. These funding streams are also open for bids by local authorities, including Coventry City Council.

It is for local highway authorities to manage their local road networks and to decide on appropriate provisions for cycling and walking. As part of the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, the Government identified £1.2 billion of funding which can be harnessed by local transport authorities to support cycling and walking. In addition, there are a number of funding streams which may also be spent on cycling and walking infrastructure:

• The £1.7 billion Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) to improve local transport links - including schemes to boost cycling and walking between city centres and suburbs. Greater Manchester recently allocated £160 million from the TCF to develop their “Beelines” cycling network.

• £220 million of capital and revenue funding through Defra’s Clean Air Fund up to 2021 – money which can be used by eligible local authorities to invest in the cycling and walking infrastructure – or projects to support cycling among employees.

• £5 billion of capital for the Housing Infrastructure Fund, aimed at supporting investment in a range of infrastructure to enable house building, including cycling and walking.