£6m to be spent on cycle paths and training across Scotland

A TOTAL of £6 million in funding for cycling will be spent on improving the network of paths across Scotland providing training for schoolchildren.

Plans for the funding – allocated in the recently announced 2013-14 Budget – were outlined yesterday by transport minister Keith Brown.

The National Cycle Network will be enhanced and local authorities will be given cash to improve cycling infrastructure on smaller roads, he said.

The Land’s End to John 
o’ Groats tourist route will be upgraded from Barnton junction in Edinburgh to the Forth Road Bridge, while money will be available for local authorities to improve the cycle route along the A90 between Edinburgh and Fife. More cycle paths will be created in Glasgow, in time for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and further routes have been identified for improvements in Dundee, Kirkcaldy and Edinburgh.

Mr Brown said: “I want to ensure people who cycle, and those who are considering it, are given even more reason to get about by bike by continuing to improve Scotland’s cycling infrastructure, and this money will do that.”