THE county has yet again been snubbed by the government for walking and cycling money.

Worcestershire County Council will receive no money in the latest round of the government’s active travel funding which offers councils a share of £200m to build walking and cycling routes and make other improvements because of its poor rating.

Worcestershire is among one of only four counties in the country to have the worst possible ‘zero’ rating from Active Travel England, which awards the money.

The Department for Transport said that winning bids had “demonstrated they provide people with attractive choices to use cycling and walking for local journeys … and local authorities have worked closely with local people to ensure the schemes benefit the community as a whole.”

Councillor Mike Rouse, cabinet member for highways and transport, said the council was not eligible to bid for money but was nonetheless committed to improving walking and cycling.

 “We continue to work closely with Active Travel England in preparation for the next assessment process,” he said.

“On this occasion, we did not apply for any of the active travel funding as we were unfortunately not eligible to do so.”

Cllr Rouse said the council has already received money from Active Travel England to help build walking and cycling plans for Worcester, Pershore, Droitwich, Malvern and Bromsgrove.

He said more than 30 people from walking, cycling and other active travel groups and organisations recently attended the first meeting of the council’s new ‘active travel stakeholder group’ to help shape plans.

When it was awarded the worst possible rating, Worcestershire County Council was told to make improvements before it could access any money from Active Travel England.

The embarrassing score 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.

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

Previous bids have been just as lacklustre with the county council receiving just £784,000 of the £1.3 million it bid for in the first and second rounds of active travel funding, with the council ignored altogether in the third round of bidding before being blocked completely in the fourth.