A continuation of Forth Valley College’s successful Active Travel initiative has been made possible thanks to a £77,000 People and Place grant.
This new grant award will enable the Active Travel team to build on the momentum from previous initiatives to deliver a programme across which supports students and staff to choose walking, wheeling and cycling as their preferred mode of transport for short, everyday journeys.
The programme which will run across the College’s three campus locations (Falkirk, Stirling and Alloa), and will include a range of activities including personal travel planning, cycle skills training and campus ‘daily mile’, in addition to awareness raising at whole host of events.
This aims to build on FVC’s knowledge and expertise from previous initiatives supported by Walking Scotland (previously known as Paths for All) and Cycling UK, and continues the local partnerships the College has established with organisations such as FEL and Recyke-a-Bike. It also supports Active Travel initiatives being developed as part of the regional Growth Deals in Forth Valley.
People and Place grants are funded by the Scottish Government and are administered and supported by the South East of Scotland Transport Partnership (SEStran) and also supported by Tayside and Central Scotland Transport Partnership (Tactran).
SEStran is the statutory Regional Transport Partnership for the south-east of Scotland and encompasses eight local authorities: City of Edinburgh, Clackmannanshire, East Lothian, Falkirk, Fife, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and West Lothian.
The People and Place programme contributes towards three of the four objectives in the Regional Transport Strategy, by supporting behaviour change interventions that allow people to choose active or sustainable ways to travel instead of using a car.
Sandra Lavergne, Project Officer at SEStran, said: “We’re delighted to support Forth Valley College’s Active Travel initiatives with a People and Place grant. The funding will enable the college to build on the momentum gained from their previous active travel programme and pursue their efforts in promoting walking, wheeling and cycling across their three campuses. We’re looking forward to seeing the impact that this work has, particularly the campus daily mile.’’
Pauline Donaldson, FVC’s Soft Services and Sustainability Manager, said “We are very happy and excited to receive support from both SEStran and TACtran with funding from the People and Places programme. This funding will allow us to promote sustainable travel to campus, as well as offering lunch time health walks and led cycle rides to all students and staff.”
Pauline Jackson, FVC’s Development and Fundraising Manager, said: “We are delighted to be awarded funding from the People and Place programme. This ensures we can continue with our Active Travel initiative encouraging staff and students to consider walking, wheeling or cycling as part of their everyday journeys.”
