Cyclists, walkers get £50m in lottery money

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A nationwide scheme to open walking and cycling routes has won £50 million of lottery money after a poll of television viewers.

Sustrans: Connect2, which will restore paths, bridges and tunnels in 79 communities, beat three other contenders to the prize - the biggest grant awarded after a public competition.

It won 42 per cent of 286,285 votes cast by telephone and on the internet after four good causes put their cases in separate programmes broadcast on ITV last week.

The contest was the first time members of the public have been allowed to have a say on who should receive lottery funds.

The winning project will get £10 million a year for the next five years to spend on opening walking and cycling routes from Devon to Perthshire.

It is hoped that they will help thousands to avoid using their cars to travel to work, school and shops.

John Grimshaw, chief executive of Sustrans, Britain's leading sustainable transport charity, said: "There are 79 towns and settlements which are just going to be changed, I think, out of all recognition.

"I think this is the start of our culture changing. This gives us all a chance to start again at a personal level and make our own contribution. I think it is hugely important."

In The People's £50 million Lottery Giveaway, the Big Lottery Fund gave four projects £500,000 each to put their cases in five-minute programmes, each hosted by a celebrity. Connect2 was backed by Lorraine Kelly, the GMTV host.

The three unsuccessful projects were a plan to open up canals and man-made limestone tunnels in the Midlands; the restoration and expansion of Sherwood Forest and a new exhibition building at the Eden Project in Cornwall.

Sustrans believes it was the most popular choice because it is planning projects across the country.

Connect2 will cost a total £140 million, of which £50 million will be lottery money, with the rest coming from other sources such as local authorities.

"It will mean that people will be able to make journeys in their local communities much more easily," a spokesman said.

"We will be refurbishing bridges, finishing some that were never completed because of lack of funds, and in Northumberland we will even be opening up an old ferry journey.

"We believe six million people live within one mile of our projects and they will all benefit from this award."

The competition was controversial because of both the size of the grant and, in the wake of numerous TV phone-in scandals, fears that the voting system might have been open to abuse.

But Sir Clive Booth, head of the Big Lottery Fund, who announced the winner in London, insisted both online and telephone voting had been carefully scrutinised by the Electoral Reform Society.

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