Nottinghamshire County Council has been awarded £845,000 Government funding to deliver an ambitious plan helping more people to cycle, walk and use the bus to access work and training opportunities in Mansfield and Newark.

The Department for Transport’s Access Fund money for Get Moving Nottinghamshire forms part of a wider £2.5m scheme that will see the introduction of 12.8km of new cycle routes in the two towns, a range of public transport incentives, walking and cycle maps, and travel information packs.

The plans aim to boost employment opportunities for employees, job seekers and school leavers where new housing development is planned and to help reduce journey times, tackle congestion and address air quality issues.

By 2023, the scheme could see:

An estimated 1.5m fewer car trips on Nottinghamshire’s roads, directly improving local air quality and creating extra highway capacity for future growth.
450,000 additional local bus trips, 465,000 additional walking trips and 195,000 additional cycle trips.
An extra £1.95m of gross value added to the local economy from jobseekers supported into employment.
A net reduction of approximately 3,300 tonnes of CO2e and 21 tonnes of N2O emitted.
Almost £2.3m of monetised local public health benefits arising from increased levels of walking and cycling.

Measures include offering 9,000 households in Mansfield and 30 workplaces information on travel options, help, incentives and motivation to enable them to change their travel choices.

3,000 jobseekers will be urged to broaden their travel horizons and access more job and training opportunities (such as reduced rate bus travel, cycle training sessions, and bike loans).

7,800 16-year-old school-leavers will be given advice on travel options, young person travel discounts and provision of active travel incentives.