AustraliaInfrastructure:
- New shared pedestrian and bike path along the Pearl Bay foreshore, Sydney
In Focus, Australian Government Nationa Building website
Locals in Sydney’s North are looking forward to the completion of a new shared pedestrian and bike path along the Pearl Bay foreshore in Mosman, funded under the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program.
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- Record Nation Building Investment in Local Communities
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The Australian Government today announced an additional $220 million nation-building investment in community infrastructure, such as libraries, community centres, and sports grounds and environmental infrastructure. - Department for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government (DITRDLG)
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The $650 million is part of the Australian Government's Jobs and Training Compact. The Jobs Fund will support and create jobs and improve skills, by funding projects that build community infrastructure and create social capital in local communities.
The Government has set aside $40 million over one year for the construction of bike paths under the Local Jobs stream of the Jobs Fund.
- Department for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government (DITRDLG)
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DITRDLG funding for infrastructure is managed through AusLink Visit Site, Australia’s national transport plan. The funding allocations for AusLink are outlined here Visit Site . Possible sources of funding for cycling infrastructure through AusLink and other DITRDLG programs are listed below. If looking for examples of projects (at various stages of completion or planning), the AusLink web site hosts a useful search facility,
- Find an AusLink Project - Visit Site
- National Projects
Visit Site - AusLink Roads to Recovery Program (Grants program)
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Funding is provided for the construction, maintenance and upgrade of roads and is provided given on the condition that the council has maintained expenditure on roads from its own sources. ‘Roads’, according to the AusLink Act, includes each of the following when in association with a road:- traffic signs and control equipment
- street lighting equipment
- vehicular ferries
- bridges or tunnels, including pedestrian bridges or tunnels
- bicycle paths
- A bicycle paths ‘associated with a road’ is one that:
- is located within the road reservation; or
- where removed from the road reservation for safety purposes, provides a route between points on the road that is shorter than or broadly similar in distance to the road route.
- National Projects
- Some local governments have used all or most of their Road to Recovery funding for cycling and walking infrastructure (e.g. City of Gosnells, WA, which has won numerous national awards for their innovation and commitment to sustainable development).
- AusLink Black Spot Program (Grants program)
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The objective of AusLink Black Spot program is to reduce the social and economic costs of road trauma by:
- the identification and cost effective treatment of locations with a record of casualty crashes;
- placing significant focus on the need to reduce rural road trauma, in accordance with national road safety policy objectives; and
- using a proportion of funds to treat sites which have been identified as potential crash locations through official road safety audits, and to implement other road safety measures.
- Regional Partnerships, (Grants program)
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The Regional Partnerships programme is an Australian Government initiative supporting the development of self-reliant communities. The Regional Partnerships programme funds projects that help communities:- provide opportunities for economic and social participation,
- improve access to services,
- plan their futures, and
- make structural adjustments
For some case studies on Regional Partnership program funding of projects that involve cycling
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- Financial Assistance Grants
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These grants have the following components:
- a general purpose component which is distributed between the States and Territories according to population (ie, on a per capita basis);
- an identified local road component which is distributed between the States and Territories according to fixed historical shares.
Local government grants commissions have been established in each State and the Northern Territory to recommend the distribution of the grants to local governing bodies in accordance with the Act and the National Principles for allocating grants.
- AusLink Black Spot Program (Grants program)
- Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA)
Visit Site and the grant programs available Visit Site - Developer Contributions
Developer contributions are payments or works-in-kind made by the property developer towards providing infrastructure upgrades for a new development. To levy developers for infrastructure contributions through the planning or building permit process, a local government requires a development contributions plan (DCP) which has been incorporated into the local planning scheme.
This is a potential growth area for the funding of walking and cycling. Some cycling specific resources or case studies that may be useful in understanding how best to benefit from this potential include:
- Department of Planning (NSW), 2004, Planning Guidelines for Walking and Cycling, NSW Government, Sydney
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These guidelines include information, concepts, case studies and illustrations designed to assist planners in ensuring provision for cycling and walking is integrated into the day-to-day work of urban planners and related professionals. Chapter 6 is on Developer Contributions. - Queensland Transport, Cycle Note A3: Funding mechanisms for cycling infrastructure
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This Note lists a number of potential programs in Queensland which may provide funding for cycle infrastructure. It also outlines different mechanisms for the financing of cycling infrastructure, including through developer contributions and presents simplified guidelines for determining infrastructure charges. It is part of the Cycle Note Series.
Visit Site - Some Australian and International local council case studies include:
- Maroochy Shire Council, 2006, Planning Scheme Policy No. DC 2: Provision of Bikeways and Bicycle Facilities, Nambour, Queensland
View PDF - The City of Newcastle, 2006, Development Contributions Plan No. 4: Transport Facilities in Blue Gum Hills, Newcastle, New South Wales
View PDF - Morton Bay Regional Council (formerly Caboolture Council), 2006, Planning Scheme Policy 21A: Transport Network Developer Contributions (Policy No.: 445/06) for Caboolture, Queensland
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- Maroochy Shire Council, 2006, Planning Scheme Policy No. DC 2: Provision of Bikeways and Bicycle Facilities, Nambour, Queensland
- Department of Planning (NSW), 2004, Planning Guidelines for Walking and Cycling, NSW Government, Sydney
Cycling Initiatives:
- Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Road Safety Research Grants, (Grants program)
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The Road Safety Research Grants Programme is a competitive scheme that provides funding for one-off projects proposed by researchers. It complements the ATSB’s targeted research programme and is intended to encourage researchers from a range of scientific disciplines to consider the road safety field. In 2007, several grants to a maximum individual value of $30,000 will be available for original road safety research projects. - Department of Health and Ageing, Healthy Active Australia Community School Grants program, (Grants program)
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The community and schools grants program ‘Healthy Active Australia’ will provide grants to not-for-profit, community organisations to conduct healthy eating and/or physical activity projects at the local level across Australia. The program will assist at-risk target groups (such as children, adolescents, young women, families in lower socio-economic and rural/remote areas, and Indigenous communities) to increase physical activity and healthy eating, and promote healthy living at the ‘grassroots’ level in Australian schools and communities. - Australian Sports Commission
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The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) has responsibility for delivering high performance programs to meet the Government's objectives of supporting Australian athletes, their coaches and support staff as they compete in a large number of high performance sports. These events include sports represented at the Olympics, the Paralympics, the Commonwealth Games and various World Championships. - Australian Institute of Sport (AIS)
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AIS has a scholarship programs (involving 26 sports), the AIS Athlete Career and Education program, The High Performance, Innovation, Management and Systems program and the High Performance Success Program. - AusIndustry
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AusIndustry runs a number of grant programs that may help cycling businesses. The most relevant of these is:
- Australian Tourism Development Program, (Grants program)
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The Australian Tourism Development Program is a highly competitive merit-based grants program that aims to assist in the development of a continuous tourism experience throughout Australia by supporting initiatives that will:
- promote tourism development in regional and rural Australia
- contribute to long-term economic growth
- increase visitation and yield throughout Australia
- enhance visitor dispersal and tourism expenditure throughout Australia, and
- increase Australia’s competitiveness as a tourism destination.
- Australian Tourism Development Program, (Grants program)
- Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Work for the Dole
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As outlined in the Australian Bicycle Council’s Bike for the Dole Visit Site page, the Work for the Dole program can generate funds for a variety of cycling related initiatives, be it for infrastructure or bike repair programs. Working with an existing Job Network provider is the best way to initiate this kind of activity.
Various state funded employment programs offer the same opportunities, for example, Queensland’s Community Employment Programs
Visit Site - Cycling Promotion Fund, (Grants program)
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The Cycling Promotion Fund is a project financially supported by the leading wholesaler companies, bicycle retailers and advocate organisations in Australia. Financial assistance may be provided to not-for-profit organisations to develop programs and projects that will increase participation in cycling across socio-demographic and age groups in the community, which would otherwise not be undertaken. Preference will be given to projects which will help to increase cycling as a transport or health/recreational option rather than sport or competition.
New ZealandInfrastructure:
- NZ Transport Agency, Programme and funding manual, Land Transport New Zealand (Grants program)
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Financial assistance from NZ Transport Agency is available for cycling projects, except for facilities used purely for recreation. The funding categories and rules are contained in the Programme and Funding Manual. A new edition is released each year in about August. To develop a funding application, a cost benefit analysis is usually required, so projects can be prioritised.
Cycling Initiatives:
- Ministry of Transport (NZ), Research Funding
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Outlines processes and sources of funding for road safety research in NZ.
- Government of New Zealand, Road Safety Trust (NZ) (Grants program)
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The Road Safety Trust is a Crown Established Trust that receives its funding from a share of the proceeds of personalised licence plate sales. The Trust is empowered to fund community safety initiatives, training, education, overseas travel, attendance at conferences and private sector technological developments beneficial to road safety. The Trust’s areas of priority are those contained in the:
- NZ Road Safety to 2010 strategy
Visit Site - the New Zealand Transport Strategy insofar as it pertains to road safety
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- NZ Road Safety to 2010 strategy
