Connect 2
Worcester hits Lottery jackpot, thanks to your support
A new pedestrian and cycle bridge is set to be built at Diglis Island thanks to a huge swathe of public support for the scheme. The proposed bridge is one 79 projects nationwide that will be benefiting from a £50miilion windfall courtesy of the Big Lottery Fund People’s Millions which has been awarded to Connect2.
Connect2 was devised by environmental transport charity Sustrans and has just gone head-to-head in a public competition against four other projects; the Black Country Urban Park, Sherwood Forest and the Eden Project. Despite the stiff opposition the public support both locally and nationally was overwhelmingly in favour of Connect2.
Simon Geraghty, Leader of the City Council, said: “This is great news for everyone who lives, works and visits the city. The new bridge will open up access to the riverside and increase opportunities for walking and cycling as well as being a huge boost to our efforts to enhance the riverside for residents and visitors alike. The support of both the public and the local media in this bid has been tremendous and we can look forward with great anticipation to the creation of a new landmark bridge across the Severn .”
Cllr Derek Prodger, Worcestershire County Council Cabinet Member for Environmental Services , added: “This is fantastic, we at the County Council and our partners have worked so hard to raise the profile of the bid, along with all those other Sustrans projects that will benefit from the money. We want to thank all those people in Worcester and around Worcestershire who’ve voted either online or by phone.
“We should also thank the media too, for the constant stream of newspaper stories reminding people about the vote, and the radio clips telling residents about the number to call. We’ve all joined together to give us the opportunity to further improve walking and cycling in and around Worcester, giving people more choice about how they travel in the city.”
John Grimshaw, Sustrans CEO said: “We are delighted that Sustrans’ Connect2 has proved itself the peoples’ favourite in the public vote and won the £50million from the Big Lottery Fund. We are immensely grateful to both Worcester City Council and Worcestershire County Council and everyone who got behind the Diglis Island scheme to make their votes count.
“As a massive public consultation exercise Connect2 has engendered a huge amount of goodwill from all sectors. It has confirmed our belief that people want to walk and cycle more when given the right surroundings. But the hard work starts now and there will be a huge amount to be done to make sure we fulfil all our obligations to the Big Lottery Fund. Ultimately the real winners will be those thousands of people who will now be able to Connect2 their shops, schools, workplaces and each other every day!”
