New funding for cycle lanes and canal towpaths
Yorkshire has been awarded £29m to build cycle lanes and crossings and improve footpaths, the government has announced.
The funding will also help to upgrade canal towpaths and traffic management measures.
West Yorkshire has received £17m, while £6.5m has been allocated to South Yorkshire and £1.5m each to North Yorkshire and East Yorkshire.
The funding is part of a national package of almost £3m from Active Travel England (ATE), an agency sponsored by the Department for Transport, to build 300 miles of walkways and cycle lanes across England.
ATE has also published guidance to help councils ensure that local residents and businesses are consulted during the changes.
Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said: "We're already making great progress in improving walking, cycling, and wheeling in the region, and this funding will help us do even more.
"Active travel plays a key role in my plans for an integrated transport network across a better-connected West Yorkshire.
"By making it easier and more appealing to get around more actively, we're promoting healthier lifestyles, improving safety and helping to tackle the climate emergency."
Chris Boardman, National Active Travel commissioner, said: "Free exercise, zero emissions and no risk of getting stuck in traffic are benefits already being enjoyed as standard by our European neighbours and it's time we had the same life-improving choices.
"This funding will help make our towns, cities and villages happier, healthier and greener places to live."
Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.
Rewards app could offer perks for green travel
Cycle route linking city universities unveiled
Cycle superhighway sees 800 users a day - data
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ryanair threatens ‘unruly' holidaymakers with £500 fines
Ryanair has threatened 'unruly' holidaymakers who disrupt flights with £500 fines amid rising concerns about drunken behaviour. The budget airline on Thursday said the 'major conduct clampdown' was aimed at a small minority of passengers who cause trouble at the expense of everyone else on board. It said anyone thrown off a flight would now be hit with a £500 fine as a minimum, with the carrier then pursuing them for damages. A Ryanair spokesman added: 'It is unacceptable that passengers are made to suffer unnecessary disruption because of one unruly passenger's behaviour. 'While these are isolated events which happen across all airlines, disruptive behaviour in such a confined shared space is unacceptable, and we hope that our proactive approach will act as a deterrent to eliminate this unacceptable behaviour onboard our aircraft.' The airline has been campaigning for tougher curbs on the sale of alcoholic drinks at airports in the past year, with Michael O'Leary, the chief executive, warning of a rise in disorder. Last year, a Ryanair flight was forced to make an unscheduled landing in Tenerife after several passengers became unruly, with one reportedly urinating in the aisle. In April, police also dragged a woman off a plane that had to be diverted to Bologna, Italy, following 'disruptive' behaviour, including a reported fight between passengers. Ryanair has accused European governments of failing to act 'when disruptive passengers threaten aircraft safety and force them to divert'. Mr O'Leary has called for passengers to be limited to two alcoholic drinks each at airports. On Thursday, a spokesman for the airline said: 'To help ensure that our passengers and crew travel in a comfortable and stress-free environment, without unnecessary disruption caused by a tiny number of unruly passengers, we have introduced a £500 fine, which will be issued to any passengers offloaded from aircraft as a result of their misconduct.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Fewer Americans want to visit Europe this summer, survey suggests
The Brief U.S. interest in traveling to Europe this summer has dropped by 7 percentage points. Cost concerns are the top barrier, but politics and global perception may also play a role. Chinese tourism to Europe is rising sharply, making up for lost American visitors. LOS ANGELES - Fewer Americans are planning to vacation in Europe this summer, and international travel sentiment in the U.S. remains weak compared to 2024, according to new survey data from the European Travel Commission. Just 33% of U.S. respondents say they plan to visit Europe this summer, a 7% drop from last year. While high travel costs and the appeal of domestic trips were the top reasons cited, the ETC also noted a more subtle factor: a growing number of Americans may be feeling self-conscious about how they're perceived abroad — particularly under the foreign policy direction of President Trump's administration. The data suggests a cooling of enthusiasm not just among Americans toward Europe, but possibly in the other direction as well. The backstory The report attributes much of the drop to rising travel costs, which were cited by nearly half of U.S. respondents not planning a European trip. Still, the ETC noted that "worries about being negatively perceived overseas under Trump's confrontational foreign policy" may also be playing a role in shaping travel behavior — a trend supported by the regional split in travel intent. For example, 43% of Americans from the Northeast, a region that typically leans Democratic, still plan to visit Europe — compared to just 33% nationally. That regional gap, the ETC suggests, reflects a political divergence that's influencing how comfortable people feel traveling internationally. Despite a small uptick in overall long-haul travel sentiment in 2025, travel to Europe specifically has lost ground across several major markets. Dig deeper While U.S. enthusiasm has declined, other regions are showing different patterns: China stands out, with 72% of surveyed travelers planning a trip to Europe — a 10% increase from 2024. Brazil and Canada both showed declines of 6% and 5%, respectively. Japan recorded the lowest level of interest, with just 13% of respondents planning a European vacation. The ETC attributed the rise in Chinese travel to economic recovery, higher disposable incomes, and a growing cultural emphasis on travel and lifestyle experiences. Why you should care The shift has real implications for both the European tourism industry, which was valued at $1.3 trillion in 2024, and for U.S. global engagement. Visits to the U.S. from countries like Germany have plunged — down 28% year-over-year in March — as global visitors increasingly turn to destinations that feel more politically neutral or welcoming. The ETC warns that strained international relations and economic instability make long-term travel forecasts harder to predict. However, they also emphasized that Europe remains committed to attracting high-value travelers by promoting earlier departures, lower-cost destinations, and off-season opportunities. What they're saying "At a time of declining consumer confidence globally, it is more important than ever to strengthen Europe's position as a top destination," said Miguel Sanz, President of the European Travel Commission. "This means improving the competitiveness and accessibility of European experiences while continuing to showcase lesser-known destinations and off-season travel." The Source This article is based on the Long-Haul Travel Barometer 2/2025, jointly published by the European Travel Commission and Eurail BV. Additional context and commentary were included in a press release dated June 2025, with attribution to Miguel Sanz and regional travel sentiment data collected across multiple international markets.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Passengers stuck on 32-hour flight ended up back where they started: Reports
The Brief A Condor flight that was headed from Switzerland to Greece made five stops, which included a layover, before ultimately landing back at its starting point. The flight was supposed to last just three hours but instead took 32 hours. During a layover in Thessaloniki, Greece, passengers allegedly had to foot the bill for their own hotel. Flying can sometimes be stressful, but can you imagine being subjected to a 32-hour flight that was actually meant to last just three hours? A Condor flight headed for Heraklion, Crete, in Greece, spent 32 hours in the air before ultimately landing back at the airport from which it started its exhausting journey. Dig deeper Flight DE1234 took off from Zurich, Switzerland, on May 24, and was headed for Greece. There were approximately 137 passengers and six crew members on board. The flight departed about 30 minutes late, according to the New York Post, but other than the delay, the trip appeared to have no other issues, until it came time to land. What they're saying Condor airlines told People magazine that "strong winds" were the culprit that led to the long trip. The pilots attempted to land several times in Crete and even made pit stops, including a layover in Thessaloniki (the second-largest city in Greece), Athens, before ultimately returning to Zurich. Passengers were allegedly only given water and during the layover in Thessaloniki, passengers were reportedly forced to foot the bill for their own accommodations, despite European aviation guidelines that say they are entitled to reimbursement, NYP said. Last June, a British Airways flight that was headed to Houston, Texas, from London, had crossed the entire Atlantic Ocean and was just on the coast of Newfoundland before it turned around and headed back to Heathrow Airport. Passengers and crew had traveled over 4,833 miles at the end of the nine-hour ordeal – and still no closer to their desired destination. The backstory British Airways told FOX Business at the time that the reason they returned was due to a "minor technical issue." "The flight returned to London Heathrow as a precaution due to a minor technical issue," a spokesperson explained. "It landed safely and customers disembarked as normal." "We've apologized to our customers for the disruption to their journey." The Source Information for this article was taken from reporting by the New York Post, People magazine and previous reporting from FOX News. This story was reported from Los Angeles.
