Published on Wednesday 10 December 2025
Funding for safe and sustainable travel options will see a significant boost with Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole being recognised as among the best in the country for delivering active travel improvements.
Active Travel England (ATE), the government’s executive agency headed up by Olympic champion Chris Boardman, has placed BCP Council as one of only a handful of local authorities to receive a level 3 rating.
The quality ratings run from 0 to 4 and form part of assessing how funding allocations are calculated for local authorities – having a higher rating unlocks additional money to deliver more for residents.
It has now been confirmed that the Council’s yearly Active Travel England allocation will more than double – from £1.45million in 2025/26 to £2.95million for 26/27 and beyond.
Recent initiatives and infrastructure made possible by ATE funding include the successful introduction of School Streets, design and build of new pedestrian crossings and larger scale projects such as the creation of better walking and cycling paths along Whitecliff, in Poole. This is alongside the Transforming Travel work for bus, walking, wheeling and cycling improvements across key transport corridors.
The additional funding will allow the Council to deliver more improvements that boost the capacity and accessibility of sustainable travel routes for residents.
Cllr Andy Hadley, portfolio holder with responsibility for sustainable travel at BCP Council, said: “This improved rating is a clear endorsement of the progress we have made in delivering safer, sustainable travel choices for our communities. Moving from a 2 to a 3 ATE rating shows that BCP Council is not only committed to active travel but is demonstrating strong leadership and tangible results.
“We’ve made solid progress to date improving active travel options for our communities, but we know there are many more routes that still need attention in part due to the increasing size of vehicles.”
“These improvements not only help pedestrians and cyclists, particularly children and older residents to stay safe, but crucially also benefit bus users and any motorists for whom walking and cycling isn’t practical by helping to reduce overall traffic volumes.
“The increased rating should put us in a strong position to attract more investment in the future. I’d like to congratulate the team for all their work delivering safer spaces for all, and achieving this national recognition of our work.”
Active Travel England produces an annual report assessing each council’s ability to plan, design, and deliver active travel schemes: factoring in value for money and benefits to residents. This allows support and future funding to be more effectively targeted.
By improving from a 2 to a 3, BCP Council has been able to demonstrate ‘strong leadership and support’ with a ‘substantial network’ of active travel options and ‘increasing modal share’ amongst residents.
The work to deliver this will go hand-in-hand with other wider transport programmes carried out by the Council including multi-million pound investments in resurfacing roads, which includes a £1.2million funding boost to fix potholes, and bus fares promotions funded from the Bus Service Improvement Plan grant.
Earlier this year the Council consulted on a draft Local Transport Plan that set out a vision for transport across BCP and Dorset from 2026 through to 2041. The ambition at the heart of that plan is to develop and promote accessible and inclusive travel choices for residents, workers and visitors through an improved transport network whilst continuing to support economic growth.