Funding awarded to Halifax, Liversedge and Batley groups as Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin encourages communities to 'give active travel a go'

Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin awarded £50,000 each to 10 community organisations across the county – including Unique Community Hub in Halifax's Park Ward, Streetbikes in Liversedge, and the Environmental Projects in Kirklees’ (EPIKS) Batley Hub – at an event held in Kirkstall last week.

The funding is part of a £500,000 investment to encourage communities to “walk, cycle and wheel”, with the aim of supporting community groups to become walking and cycling hubs.

The organisations will use the funding to become “one-stop shops” where people can access resources such as equipment, training and group activities, and advice and support on routes, allowing people to access everything they need to walk, cycle or wheel.

Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin awarded the money at an event at the Hollybush Conservation Centre in Kirkstall on Friday, August 9.

She said: “We want to encourage more people to get around our region using healthy active travel choices.

“Walking, cycling and wheeling as a way of getting around have so many benefits for health and wellbeing, as well as tackling the climate emergency, and these hubs in the heart of our communities will encourage more people to give active travel a go.

“This will help us build a greener and better-connected West Yorkshire.”

Streetbikes in Liversedge – one of the groups to receive funding – supports people who may face barriers to cycling, such as health issues or disabilities. The charity runs twice weekly cycling sessions at the Spen Valley Athletics Track on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

The EPIKS Batley Hub aims to support people to adopt active travel as part of its wider vision of providing practical solutions to environmental problems.

Unique Community Hub is based in Park Ward, Halifax and says it empowers the community through “sport, youth work, art and education” and “brings together a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives that contributes to a holistic, inclusive and representative approach to community-building.”

This latest funding is in addition to the 14 active travel hubs across the region which are already funded as part of the initiative.

More information can be found here.