Community views to guide footpath and cycle improvement

The community and its aspirations will be at the heart of major investment in Orkney’s footpath and cycle network.

This is according to Orkney Islands Council, which announced in December that it would be pumping £500,000 into improving its “active travel” infrastructure.

It is just one part of an £8.25million bonus approved by councillors just before Christmas.

It is hoped this suite of investments will help support Orkney’s recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by making use of remaining government funding given to the council to compensate for additional running costs during the pandemic.

Councillors believe that this investment in towards the overall paths and cycleways pot which recognises the  the hugely important role these played and will continue to play as a result of the pandemic.

Sharing an update on plans for how the money will be spent, this week, OIC said that it hopes to channel it into aspirations already earmarked by the community through previous consultations.

This includes the recent Orkney Matters series, which has been delivered across the county.

More on this in next week’s The Orcadian, available online and in shops from Wednesday.