Council has £2million budget to spend after bus gate scrapped
Most of the projects in the Southampton city region's £68.5million Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) programme have been done.
This includes the park and ride facility currently used by University Hospital Southampton staff, the Albion Place bus hub and Arundel Gardens pocket park.
The city council is yet to progress the project for a new bus lane on the A33 Western Approach and there is money outstanding from the Portswood bus gate, which was axed less than four months into the trial.
Cabinet member for transport Cllr Christie Lambert said the local authority was 'committed' to completing works on all the TCF areas but in a 'modified form'.
The programme revolved around investment in the city centre and four transport corridors – Southampton to Waterside/Totton, Southampton to Chandler's Ford, Southampton to Eastleigh and Southampton to Bursledon.
'For the A33 Western Approach bus lane, we are considering the next steps following the traffic regulation order consultation that took place in November 2024,' Cllr Lambert said.
'Following the pause in the Portswood project trial earlier this year, we are currently looking at different ways that we can still enhance the Eastleigh to Portswood corridor, where there is a remaining budget of approximately £2million and details of how this budget will be spent will be considered over the remainder of this financial year, ensuring expenditure is in line with the goals of TCF and with improvements which will also appeal to local people.'
In December 2020, the Southampton city region was awarded £57million of government TCF funding to support sustainable and active travel across Southampton and surround parts of Hampshire.
This allocation was supported by £11.5million of local match funding from Hampshire County Council, Southampton City Council and local partners.
Initially, the programme was to deliver schemes by March 2023 before this was later extended by two years.
However, the Local Democracy Reporting Service understands there is no set deadline by which the funding must be spent by the council.
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