THE county council has been told it cannot be trusted to use extra government money for walking and cycling correctly.

Worcestershire County Council has been given the worst possible ‘zero’ rating by Active Travel England, the new government body responsible for handling walking and cycling money, and told to make improvements before it can access the money.

The embarrassing rating was given to the council for not even meeting the ‘minimum standards’ of political leadership on boosting walking and cycling in the county and for its lacklustre track record of providing improvements.

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Active Travel England said it would be “withholding funding” until improvements were made, and the lowly score also means the council is banned from making any new bids for walking and cycling money.

The council was asked to rate its own performance by the government awarding itself a ‘one’ rating - which meant it had shown “some local leadership and support with basic plans and isolated interventions” to improve walking and cycling – but the government pushed the score down further to zero.

It is a long way from the ‘level 4’ rating awarded to councils which have an “established culture of active travel” and “highly supportive” policies that reduce car trips.

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Most councils were expected to be awarded a ‘level one’ or ‘level two’ rating – which showed at least ‘some’ or ‘strong’ leadership on walking and cycling.

The damning letter to the council said: “Our funding is limited and we need to invest it in areas where we are likely to achieve our long-term outcomes.

“Unfortunately, we have assessed that the evidence you have provided does not demonstrate the minimum levels of local leadership and/or delivery track record that we require.”

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Cllr Mike Rouse, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “It is disappointing that Active Travel England decided to override our fair and reasonable ‘level one’ rating and put us at ‘level zero’ instead, potentially cutting us off from funding opportunities.

“I have written to the new Secretary of State at the Department for Transport to voice my concern at this assessment, and I have invited her to come to Worcestershire, to hear our plans and see the difference increased government funding could make to the county.”

“We felt we were able to rate ourselves at ‘level one’ for our performance, as we have delivered a number of schemes to improve cycling and walking routes and we have more proposals on the way.

“We spend more than £20m per year on active travel measures.”

The rating comes after the two previous bids by the council for active travel money fell way short of what was expected with the authority receiving just £784,000 of £1.3 million it bid for.

The failed bid comes after a “hugely ambitious” council bid for £84 million to transform bus services in Worcestershire was rejected outright, leaving a planned overhaul of the bus network in ruins.