Sheffield cycling: Council reveals the millions spent on 'walking, wheeling and cycling'
Sheffield Council has revealed the millions spent on networks to boost walking, wheeling and cycling in the last two years.
Some £27,157,322 has been spent on schemes in areas including Nether Edge, Attercliffe, Kelham Island, the city centre, Townhead and Tenter streets, and the Dutch roundabout at West Bar, a Freedom of Information request shows.
The figure includes those still in development, on site and finished, and covers drainage and planting to reduce the risk of flooding.
A reader, who asked to be named, submitted questions as a Freedom of Information request. He also asked what was the increase in cycle usage before and at the end of the two-year period.
In its response, the council said it tended to do counts after new bike lanes had been running for a year and it had “no post-scheme data.”
It states: “All schemes are funded through the current programme include an economic assessment before approval and increases included within that assessment are based on historical evidence.
“The only route that has been substantially completed in the last two years is the route from Townhead Street to Neepsend and that is currently going through snagging (sorting out minor problems) and requires signing.
“The substantial completion only took place a few months ago, and while every scheme has a monitoring and evaluation period, we tend to look at numbers and make comparisons one year on from completion.
“To summarise - to date there is no post-scheme data.”
The reader also asked if the city council had any other method of measuring the success, or otherwise, of the works.
The authority responded: “Every scheme in progress or built recently has a monitoring and evaluation plan which will have a section comparing data.
“In some cases, schemes will rely on pre and post-scheme manual counts, in other cases, it will use this, plus data collected by automatic counters, some of which have been in place many years.”