North Yorkshire Council (NYC) has set out its Consolidated Active Travel Fund (CATF) bid to Active Travel England in a report to a council Executive meeting on 28th November 2025.
The report says (para 3.2) that NYC’s allocation is £1,256,601, of which £872,999 is capital and £383,602 is revenue.
The purposes of the capital funding include (para 3.3):
- larger, more impactful construction schemes
- essential maintenance or accessibility concerns on existing active travel routes
- early development of future active travel schemes
- ‘change control’ funding to unblock or improve existing ATF schemes
Smaller schemes (below £100,000) should be funded from other sources.
Funding should be committed by March 2026, and schemes completed by March 2028.
Sainsbury’s Junction of Wetherby Road
From para 4.1 of the report, we learn something about NYC’s ATF5 scheme for the Sainsbury’s junction of Wetherby Road, which – as currently designed – excludes cycling.
‘Change control for an existing ATF scheme at A661 Wetherby Road/Railway Road was considered, however a feasibility study and further design work needs to be undertaken to consider a future cycle phase as part of these ATF5 funded improvements’.
Capital Schemes Chosen
The capital schemes chosen by NYC are:
- improvements to an underpass of Bawtry Road, Selby (£415,278)
- Flexipave surfacing of the short section of path that helps people on bikes avoid the A65 between Clapham and Austwick (£201,780)
- Flexipave resurfacing the rest of the Oatlands bridleway in Harrogate, between Hookstone Road and Hornbeam Park Avenue (£212,507)
- 60m of footway at a new housing site in Birstwirth where the developer went bust without building the pedestrian link to the village (£43,434)
NYC say that the schemes will improve the route check tool Level of Service scores for the routes.
Comment
With the possible exception of the Selby scheme, I would not describe these as larger, more impactful schemes.
This is partly a result of NYC’s low Capabilty Rating, which means they are not trusted with larger sums of active travel funding.
The resurfacing of the Oatlands bridleway is a longstanding priority of Harrogate Cycle Action, and we will be pleased if the scheme is delivered.
Next Step
At the meeting, the council Executive will be asked to approve the four schemes for submission to Active Travel England.