Active travel to Newtonmore Primary receives £25K boost

Members of The Highland Council’s Badenoch and Strathspey Area Committee have agreed funding for an active travel project which will make the area around Newtonmore Primary School safer and more attractive for pupils, parents and carers to walk and cycle to the school. 

The £25,000 project will be funded from the Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets (CWSS) Programme budget which is provided by the Scottish Government for 2016/17. The funding conditions mean that the money should be spent on cycling-related projects. 

The funding will be spent on widening footpaths; new road markings such as ‘stop, look and listen’, dropped kerbs, and formalising 2 parking bays into 4 spaces.

Highland Council Road Safety Unit works with schools to produce a School Travel Plan which focuses on the journey to and from school to develop safer routes to school and achieve a shift towards active travel. 

Area Chair of the Committee Cllr Bill Lobban said: “This will make improvements to both Church Terrace and Golf Course Road which will enhance these two areas for pupils travelling actively to and from Newtonmore Primary School. It’s important that we encourage pupils from a young age to adopt active travelling that will encourage healthy living lifestyles and more importantly make it safer for them to do so.”

Further information can be found at www.highland.gov.uk/srts.