Funding bids

We work with partners to bid for external funding to deliver local transport improvements

February 2023

Active Travel Fund Tranche 4

Hampshire County Council have submitted a bid to Government for £9.7 million of Capital funding to develop and deliver new walking and cycling infrastructure schemes. This follows on from successful bids to the Department for Transport (DfT) for previous tranches of the Active Travel Fund, as well as for two tranches of the Capability and Ambition Fund. For the Tranche 4 bid HCC have been given an indicative allocation of £4.8m with the option to bid for additional funding over and above this. The bid is split into funding for the design of schemes and funding for the delivery of schemes.

Schemes submitted for design funding include segregated cycle routes and walking improvements in Portchester, Gosport, Havant, Winchester, and Basingstoke; as well as work to develop the schemes included in the forthcoming Winchester Mini-Holland feasibility study.

Schemes submitted for delivery include works to enhance or complete walking and cycling links being undertaken as part of the Transforming Cities Fund projects. This includes works along the A27 Providence Hill, Elmleigh Road in Havant and new crossings in New Forest and Eastleigh. In addition, the funding would cover key walking and cycling links in Fleet, Segensworth, Winchester and Basingstoke.
September 2022

Capability and Ambition Fund

Following a submission in September 2022 Hampshire County Council have been awarded £1.005m of revenue funding in order to enhance our capability to deliver an ambitious programme of walking and cycling improvements throughout the County. This submission builds upon last year’s successful bid to the Capability Fund and successful bids to the Active Travel Fund and will support a variety of schemes such as continuing to develop our Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs), feasibility studies for new high-quality cycle schemes and behaviour change activities.

Specifically, the bid includes funding for:

LCWIP Development
Finalising the remaining four LCWIPs in Hampshire to ensure 100% coverage of the county. Prioritisation of schemes in the completed LCWIPs to inform our future programme of works and to provide a basis for future funding bids. Development of walking zones identified within completed LCWIPs.

Scheme Planning and Design
Scheme planning and design for eight corridors identified as primary routes in LCWIPs. This will include feasibility studies setting out high-quality walking and cycling schemes which will be designed to the latest standards to provide a step change in provision in these areas.

Public Engagement
Funding for greater engagement in the development of walking and cycling schemes, particularly at an early stage so that residents and other local stakeholders are able to input into the design of emerging schemes and have a say in proposals as they develop.

Staff Training
Ensuring that relevant staff are trained in the latest active travel guidance and design standards. This will include training in Healthy Streets, the new Manual for Streets and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.

Behaviour Change
Providing additional staff time to continue to support schools and workplaces with travel planning. Undertaking walking and cycling events at schools and workplaces. Setting up cycle training and cycle maintenance training. Work with Public Health and marketing teams on an inactivity campaign to be used at the launch of active travel schemes.

August 2022

Active Travel England – Assessment of Capability and Ambition

Hampshire County Council were asked by Active Travel England to provide a self-assessment on their capability and ambition to deliver high quality walking and cycling improvements. Following moderation and review by Active Travel England they agreed with our self-assessment and have categorized us as ‘Level 2’ described as “strong local leadership and support, with strong plans and emerging work”. The majority of Local Authorities were assessed at lower levels; either Level 0 or Level 1, so our Level 2 assessment demonstrates Active Travel England recognise we have capability, ambition and political support to deliver high quality walking and cycling improvements.

Please view the self-assessment submitted to Active Travel England.

Levelling Up Fund

Following last year’s unsuccessful bid, Hampshire County Council have submitted a second bid to the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund to enhance access to local services, employment opportunities and education in Havant and Gosport. Working with Havant Borough Council and Gosport Borough Council the schemes included in the bid seek to improve walking and cycling routes into Havant and Gosport town centres.

In Havant the bid aims to deliver the renewal of the footbridge adjacent to Havant rail station, providing access for pedestrians and cyclists in line with the latest design standards. The bid also includes walking and cycling routes linking Leigh Park to Havant Academy secondary school and Havant and South Downs College, employment opportunities at New Lane Industrial Park and Langstone Technology Park and recreational opportunities at Staunton Park and Havant Park.

In Gosport walking and cycling improvements are proposed along South Street and Mumby Road to further improve accessibility for local residents to the new bus station and existing ferry terminal as well as to local services and opportunities.

Whilst last year’s bid was unsuccessful, the County Council received positive feedback which has been used to develop this year’s bid. An announcement on the success of this bid is expected in the autumn 2022.

December 2021

Sustrans NCN Development

Hampshire County Council has been awarded a share of Department for Transport funding via Sustrans, for a scheme aimed at developing the National Cycle Network (NCN) Route 22 in Havant. A total of £679,000 has been awarded which will be used to design improvements to cycle facilities along Elmleigh Road, Eastern Road and Leigh Road, in order to enhance cycle access to the town centre and railway station and will also be used to deliver a section of the improvements along Eastern Road and Leigh Road in Spring 2022. This funding builds on initial design work undertaken by Sustrans, with funding from the Department for Transport, for improvements to the NCN22 route along Petersfield Road, Leigh Road and Elmleigh Road. Funding for the delivery of the remainder of the designed improvements will the subject of future bids for delivery funding.

November 2021

HE Designated Funds

Hampshire County Council has been awarded £540,000 by Highways England (HE) for Pedestrian/cycle access improvements to Swanwick Station, from their Designated ‘Users and Communities’ fund. This follows on from Expression of Interest submissions made by HCC to HE in December 2020 for several different schemes. Under the terms of the Designated Fund (DF) criteria, the schemes need to be able to demonstrate benefits to the HE road network.

The funding has been awarded for design in 2023/24 and for construction in 2024/2025, and is subject to further assessment demonstrating value for money, alignment with DF criteria, and benefits to the HE network. The funding will be used to provide improvements to pedestrian and cycle access routes between Swanwick station and the wider area, in order to help encourage more people to use the train and thereby reduce trips on the M27.

October 2021

Restoring Your Rail

In October 2021 the Department for Transport (DfT) announced that £7m had been awarded from its the Restoring Your Railway (RYR) Fund to undertake the next stage in the development of the Waterside Passenger Rail scheme. This followed the submission by Hampshire County Council (HCC) of a Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) in February 2021, for the reintroduction of passenger rail services along the Waterside branch line linking Totton with Marchwood and Hythe. Prior to this Hampshire County Council was successful in Round 1 of the RYR Ideas Fund and received £50,000 from the DfT to undertake feasibility work that led to the submission of the SOBC.

The proposed scheme will now be taken forward to the next stage of assessment by Network Rail and would involve the re-introduction of passenger rail services to the existing freight only branch line between Totton (where it connects onto the South West Main Line) and a point south of Hythe in the vicinity of the original Hardley Halt. This would include rebuilt stations at Marchwood and Hythe, and a new parkway style station referred to as Hythe and Fawley Parkway. The SOBCprepared by HCC with input and support from Network Rail, appraises whether there is a case for restoring passenger rail services along the Waterside branch line in accordance with Department for Transport (DfT) Transport Appraisal Guidance (TAG).

November 2021

HE Designated Funds

Hampshire County Council has been awarded £540,000 by Highways England (HE) for Pedestrian/cycle access improvements to Swanwick Station, from their Designated ‘Users and Communities’ fund. This follows on from Expression of Interest submissions made by HCC to HE in December 2020 for several different schemes. Under the terms of the Designated Fund (DF) criteria, the schemes need to be able to demonstrate benefits to the HE road network.

The funding has been awarded for design in 2023/24 and for construction in 2024/2025, and is subject to further assessment demonstrating value for money, alignment with DF criteria, and benefits to the HE network. The funding will be used to provide improvements to pedestrian and cycle access routes between Swanwick station and the wider area, in order to help encourage more people to use the train and thereby reduce trips on the M27.

August 2021

Active Travel Fund (ATF) 21/22

Hampshire County Council have submitted a bid to Government for £5.4 million capital funding to deliver new cycling and walking infrastructure schemes.

This follows on from successful bids to the Department for Transport (DfT) Emergency Active Travel Fund for £4.14 million to support social distancing, assist economic recovery and encourage walking and cycling, and to the DfT Capability Fund for £325,000 revenue funding to support behaviour change activities, design development of cycle schemes and Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs).

The projects included in the bid:

Improvements to off-road cycle routes: Resurfacing and widening works along the Hayling Billy Line and alongside Titchfield Canal to encourage year-round commuter, utility and leisure cycling.

Quick wins in the Portsmouth and South-East Hampshire area: Walking and cycling enhancements which complement the successful Portsmouth and South-East Hampshire Transforming Cities Fund bid.  Schemes include footway widening in Emsworth High Street; junction improvements on Highlands Road, Fareham to improve the pedestrian experience; and a new section of segregated cycle route along NCN 22 connecting to Havant rail station.

Centre for Active Travel Excellence (CATE) – Projects include a countywide review of cycle signage and dropped kerbs to ensure they are in-line with new DfT cycle infrastructure guidance; provision of cycle parking; and to purchase a fleet of pool bicycles so that designers / local Members / officers can experience actual cycling conditions and develop inclusive solutions.

LCWIP – Walking zone renewal and enhancement – A number of renewal and enhancement schemes within walking zones identified in LCWIPs to complement our asset management strategy and provide walking routes which are attractive, comfortable and safe.  Locations include Portchester, Alton, Waterlooville and Winchester.

LCWIP – Cycle route enhancement – Widening of existing shared use paths to bring them in line with new DfT cycle infrastructure guidance.  Locations include Gosport, Chandlers Ford and Basingstoke.

Scheme development – Develop the preliminary and detailed designs for several key cycling routes around Hampshire including Manydown to Basingstoke Town Centre; A30 Winchester Road Corridor (Basingstoke); A27 corridor (Fareham to Havant); and priority corridors in Winchester, to ensure that we are well placed to deliver schemes early in the next round of ATF funding.

The DfT also requested a pipeline of future schemes to be delivered in the next year, 4 years and 10 years, to aid the DfT in understanding the potential scale of spend for future funding rounds.  We used a combination of LCWIPs, the Scheme Development Programme and other transport strategies to identify ~30 schemes or packages of schemes which could be developed over the next 4 to 10 years.

The DfT are looking to identify 12 locations for ‘Mini-Holland’ schemes, which would see a substantial investment in walking and cycling that would have a transformational impact on local roads and streetscapes, to make them over time as cycle & pedestrian friendly as their Dutch equivalents.  The County Council put forward an Expression of Interest covering Winchester, focusing on the city centre. A Mini-Holland scheme for Winchester would be complementary to the work that has already been done by the County and City Councils on the Winchester Movement Strategy and build on the learning that we gained from the first rounds of the ATF.  The Mini-Holland would combine traffic reduction measures, roadspace reallocation on the one-way system, improved radial cycling corridors, and public realm enhancements.

July 2021

Department of Transport (DfT) Large Local Majors Fund

Hampshire County Council submitted a Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) to the DfT in July 2021 for funding from the Large Local Majors (LLM) fund for improvements to the A326 in the Waterside area of the New Forest, between the Michigan Way roundabout in West Totton and the Sizer Way junction at Applemore. The scheme cost was between £57million and £123million and differs based on three options that are presented and assessed in the SOBC, which are variations on the same base scheme and can broadly be summarised as:

  • Option 1: lowest scope/cost and largely involving junction improvements and localised road widening only;
  • Option 2: medium scope/cost and as Option 1 but additionally involving a new dual carriageway to the west of Totton and some on-line widening to the south of Totton; and
  • Option 3: highest scope/cost and as Option 2 but additionally involving a new dual carriageway to the south of Totton up to the Applemore junction.

If the SOBC is approved, the DfT will grant the County Council funding to enable the design for a preferred option to be developed, the next stage of business case work to be undertaken (Outline Business Case) and ultimately for a planning application to be submitted. Feedback from the summer 2021 Waterside Transport Strategy consultation is a key part of the decision over which option to take forward, alongside other key considerations such as environmental impact, economic impact, scheme cost, and likely cost/benefit ratio. Details of the summer 2021 consultation and further information on the scheme can be found here.

September 2020

Transforming City Fund - Portsmouth

Hampshire County Council, Portsmouth City Council and the Isle of Wight Council have jointly secured nearly £56 million of funding  from the government's Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) to improve the way people travel around Portsmouth, Gosport, Fareham, Waterlooville, Havant and the Isle of Wight.

Funding will support 23 schemes which include improvements for walking, cycling and bus travel and provide an important next step for the three authorities towards developing a rapid transit network for the area.

The breakdown of schemes in each local authority area is as follows:

  • Hampshire County Council: 10 schemes totalling £19.6 million in Havant, Gosport and Fareham;
  • Portsmouth City Council: nine schemes totalling £26.4 million;
  • Isle of Wight Council: four schemes totalling £10 million.

All TCF schemes will be delivered by 2023.  Please view the schemes to be delivered by Hampshire County Council.

Transforming City Fund - Southampton

In March 2020 Hampshire County Council welcomed news of the successful outcome of a funding bids to the Department for Transport. Made jointly with Southampton City Council, Hampshire County Council made a bid for investment designed to improve walking, cycling and public transport within the Southampton City Region.

The Department for Transport awarded £57 million to the Southampton City Region from the Transforming Cities Fund (TCF). This funding is for capital investment in infrastructure to support and encourage active and sustainable travel from the outlying residential areas to key economic drivers nearer the City Centre. This infrastructure requires delivery by March 2023.

The investment will support plans to improve connectivity across three major travel corridors in and out of Southampton from the Waterside (from Totton down to Holbury), Eastleigh and Bursledon. Over the next three years, this investment will deliver rapid bus corridors using smart technology and priority lanes; accelerate the development of the Southampton Cycle Network (the network expends in outlying Hampshire Districts) create Active Travel Zones to encourage cycling and walking, and develop a Park & Ride (to serve Southampton Hospital during the weekdays) and Local Mobility Hubs in key local areas. Eastleigh is to have a mobility hub within the town centre and Southampton Airport Parkway will be the location of a travel hub.

This together with the £5.7m received from tranche 1 of TCF funds, awarded in January 2019, (£7.4m with local contributions), means the City Region will have seen a transport investment of £75.9m by 2023.

Further information

August 2020

Emergency Active Travel Fund – Tranche 2

Hampshire County Council submitted a bid to Government for £3.45 million to deliver a range of schemes to help redesign some of our roads and high streets to support social distancing, assist economic recovery and encourage active travel such as walking and cycling.

This follows on from a successful bid earlier in the year for £863,000 for temporary pop-up measures to help people socially distance more easily.

The projects that have been prioritised and included in the funding bid are:

  • Transforming High Streets and Local Centres – this includes the centres of Aldershot in Rushmoor, Romsey in Test Valley, Brockenhurst in the New Forest, Petersfield in East Hampshire, Stubbington in Fareham, Eastleigh and Winchester to allocate more space to walking and cycling as well as funding to make some of the temporary pop-up schemes more permanent, (subject to favourable ongoing local consultation). These schemes will help to support recovery of these town centres and will be advanced in close liaison with the appropriate Local Authorities and interested parties.
  • Encouraging Cycling and Walking for Local Journeys – these include proposals for a new segregated cycleway on Brighton Way, Basingstoke, footway widening and traffic management on Old Lynchford Road and Camp Road in North Camp, Farnborough, and improvements to walking and cycling routes that connect to bus stops on the Eclipse Bus Rapid Transit corridor between Fareham and Gosport;
  • Innovative Measures to Transform Behaviours – Proposals include a kit of moveable planters and temporary street furniture including replacing parking spaces with seating, greenery or bike racks which would be deployed for trial periods at different locations where the community want to see low traffic neighbourhoods introduced, measures for schools that support more active travel;
  • Ambitious Proposals for Strategic Corridors – to deliver side road crossing improvements to encourage walking and cycling along the A27 corridor between Fareham and Portchester including raised crossings, to slow traffic down, as the first stage of a more comprehensive package of improvements on this corridor.
  • Sustaining, Monitoring and Maintaining the new schemes – funding to help maintain any new schemes implemented and to enable the Council to undertake monitoring and evaluation of their impact.

The outcome of the bid to the Emergency Active Travel Fund is expected to be announced by the Government in early autumn.

View the submitted Tranche 2 bid.

Details of the schemes being delivered as part of Tranche 1.

January 2020

DfT Pinch Point Fund

Hampshire County Council submitted three Expressions of Interest (EoI) to the Department for Transport (DfT) at the end of January, for scheme funding from the latest round of the Local Pinch Point fund. The schemes that were submitted are as follows:

  • Fleet Rail Station junction – Bid value £6m, scheme value £7m. Traffic capacity improvements to the junction on the A3013, including improved access to the station and through the junction for both pedestrians and cyclists, whilst retaining the existing bus access.
  • A3025 Hamble Lane Improvements – Bid value £12m, scheme value £15m. Traffic capacity and pedestrian and cycle improvements to the northern section of Hamble Lane, between the A27/A3024 Windhover Roundabout to the north and the A3025 Portsmouth Road to the south, plus revised access arrangements to the Tesco Bursledon store.
  • A3011 Lynchford Road, Farnborough.

Schemes that are successful in passing the first phase of assessment will be invited to submit a further and detailed submission in Phase 2, which will be a competitive process, with no guarantee of further investment funding to shortlisted schemes. We expect to hear around the end of March 2020 which schemes (if any) have been successful in passing to Phase 2.

Historic Funding Bids