Email to Les Sturch:
Dear Les Sturch,
As you may know the The Times have been running their prominent Cyclesafe campaign to promote and increase safety for cyclists. At the heart of their campaign was a call to identify and allocate funding to fix problem junctions. Sheffield's infamous University roundabout was identified as one of the country's black-spots, and featured prominently in the following article "Cyclists' Horror Stories
Cyclists' Horror Stories
Given the national exposure of Sheffield, I was surprised to learn that NO funding whatsoever has been allocated to Sheffield from the recent £40m government budget that was announced.
road.cc/cycle-safety-junctions
Did Sheffield make an application for any of this funding?
Yours Sincerely
Stan Fichele
Response:
Dear Mr Fichele,
Thanks for your email below to which I have been asked to respond.
Sheffield City Council did not bid for any funding on this occasion.
As you are clearly aware, Brookhill roundabout was the priority junction identified in Sheffield. To implement an on-road solution here, that would be ‘satisfactory’ for all road users, would cost many millions of pounds. Quite apart from the large sum of funding required, it would not have been possible to design, consult and build a scheme before the end of this financial year, as required under the bidding process. The Department for Transport were looking for schemes that were well advanced and effectively ready to implement. Sheffield does not have a scheme ready to implement straight away, with 50% match funding guaranteed, that would have met the DfT criteria.
I trust that the above satisfactorily explains why we did not bid for funding on this occasion.
However, you may be interested to know that it is our intention to make a bid for the Cycle City Ambitions Grant, the requirements for which are not quite so onerous. I cannot, of course, guarantee success.
Regards,
Dick Skelton
Transport Strategy
Room G32
Town Hall
SHEFFIELD
S1 2HH
Tel: 0114 2734479
