Welcome to the Cycling Facilities Fund
From 3-13 August 2023, the inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships will be hosted in Glasgow and across Scotland. It will be the single biggest cycling event in history, bringing together for the first time 13 existing UCI World Championships into one mega event.
We want to deliver a lasting impact from the 2023 UCI Cycling Worlds by inspiring new and existing cyclists to make cycling a sport for life.
Cycling has become increasingly popular in Scotland. Fuelled by the huge success of Scottish athletes performing on the world stage, the talent pool has grown and this has inspired more people to take up cycling. We have also seen a record increase in the number of people participating in cycling during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Building on the interest in cycling and the positive impact it has on health and wellbeing will help us achieve our vision of an active Scotland where everyone benefits from sport. This also has an important part to play in encouraging active travel.
We believe the Cycling Facilities Fund, made possible through a new £4 million commitment from Scottish Government and £4 million from sportscotland through National Lottery funds, will help achieve this vision. This significant investment in cycling infrastructure will be delivered over the next two years through a partnership between Scottish Cycling and sportscotland.
The Cycling Facilities Fund aims to support cycling projects across Scotland and welcomes proposals from all areas. This guide sets out priorities and what we are looking to achieve. It also explains details of the fund and how you can submit your proposal.
Objectives
There are three clear objectives for this fund:
Inspire the nation to cycle
By providing accessible, inclusive and inspiring facilities that enable and encourage people to engage with cycling in all its forms, regardless of their background, gender, age, ethnicity or ability.
Grow and develop club and community cycling
By providing multi-discipline hub facilities with safe coaching and skill development areas that support the growth and development of cycling clubs and hubs.
Grow and develop local and regional event opportunities
By providing new or upgrading existing facilities to enable local and regional festivals, competition and events.
Projects
Before submitting an expression of interest, interested parties must consider the range of facilities that exist in their area, both locally and regionally, and must ensure that their proposals are part of an integrated and planned approach for their area, to avoid competing proposals being submitted.
We are especially keen to see inclusive proposals that target a growth in cycling participation, the number of clubs as well as events that attract under-represented groups including children and young people, women, people with disabilities, those from SIMD areas and those who experience other forms of exclusion.
The type of facilities we want to build include:
- New cycling facilities (tracks, trails, circuits, training areas)
- Upgrades or extension to existing facilities
- Accessible toilets and/or inclusive changing facilities
- Floodlighting
- Multi-use club spaces
- Storage
- Indoor training and conditioning spaces.
sportscotland and Scottish Cycling have undertaken modelling and analysis work on cycling provision in Scotland. This considered what facilities are available and how much of the population is likely to be able to access them. This helped us identify some gaps in provision.
Inspire the nation to cycle projects
- new sites that provide learn to ride areas, skills areas and pump tracks
- ancillary facilities and entry-level facilities designed for community use at existing facilities.
Club hub and event projects
New multi-discipline facilities that enable coaching and skill development.
- Addition of skills areas, pump tracks, BMX tracks or cyclo-cross areas to existing facilities.
- Ancillary facilities and changing rooms that enable the wider use of new or existing facilities.
The modelling work identified the following gaps in provision:
- two additional regional standard BMX tracks with the north east and east of Scotland identified as geographic gaps.
- one or two closed road circuits in central belt locations, given high population catchment at existing facilities.
- one outdoor velodrome in a central belt location given high population catchment at existing facilities.
Scotland has a number of local and regional standard cycling facilities. However, we know there is a demand to develop more facilities for a broader range of disciplines across the country and we are keen to hear from any interested parties that can evidence a clear demand for more facilities.
The types of facilities, groups or clubs that multi-discipline cycling hubs might bring together in one place.
Approach
To help us deliver the many benefits of sport to everyone in Scotland, we are guided by the following six key principles. The investment in projects will also be guided by these principles.
Inclusive
Projects should engage with people who may experience barriers to participation to support their inclusion in cycling and other activity.
Accountable
Projects should be well planned, financially viable and have clear and achievable outcomes.
Responsive
Projects should be able to adapt to the ongoing needs of their users and local community.
Person-centred
Projects should have sustainable, community-led approaches that get clubs working together to develop welcoming, safe and fun environments for sport.
Collaborative
Projects should bring together clubs, the community and key local partners who want to develop and grow cycling and the wider sporting offering in the community.
World class
Projects should be developed to the highest possible standard, while seeking to continuously improve.
Priorities
Project essentials:
Your project must be:
- traffic-free
- multi-discipline for club hub and event projects
- inclusive and accessible
- a strategic fit that connects to other local and national cycling infrastructure and initiatives.
How decisions will be made on which projects to support
We will prioritise projects which:
- provide inclusive opportunities for people who are under-represented in cycling.
- provide opportunities for people within communities to cycle and help aspiring participants and athletes develop and learn.
- provide opportunities for people to participate in more than one discipline in one place.
- are located at or close to and link into other existing path/cycle networks or a community hub.
- include a learn to ride area that will allow people to develop cycling skills and confidence.
- include entry level routes that enable cyclists to develop their skills.
- provide a route into cycle sport by offering local and regional race opportunities.
- work with a Scottish Cycling affiliated club or involve developing a new club.
- provide planned activities for a range of levels designed to recruit and retain users.
- connect projects to UCI Cycling World Championships 2023.
- are designed to use sustainable energy systems and constructed using sustainable materials where possible.
- offer leadership opportunities to young people in a range of roles including decision makers, deliverers/coaches, event/competition organisers and technical officials.
- recruit, retain and develop volunteers to maintain sustainable projects.
Awards
How much funding is available from the Cycling Facilities Fund?
Inspire the nation to cycle projects
Awards up to 50% of the eligible project cost up to a maximum of £100,000*
We want to deliver as many community projects as we can across the country in areas where there is no or low provision.
*Projects within the boundary or serving an area identified within the lowest 20% of The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) can apply for up to 75% of the eligible project cost up to a maximum of £100,000. This increased award percentage will not apply to projects led by local authorities.
Club hub and event projects
Awards up to 65% of the eligible project cost up to a maximum of £500,000**
We want to deliver as many projects as we can and will use the expression of interest stage to inform how we allocate funding to individual projects.
It is important that interested parties consider the range of facilities that exist in their area, both locally and regionally, and ensure that their proposals are part of an integrated approach to cycling facility provision.
**This will only be increased in exceptional circumstances. For example, where a project is considered a strategic priority and may not be delivered otherwise.
Who we would like to work with
Any non-profit distributing, constituted organisation whose membership is open to all sections of society, including:
- clubs (existing and new)
- education establishments
- local authorities or leisure trusts
- charitable organisations
- community organisations
- community sport hubs
How should you fundraise the rest of the project funding?
The remainder of the project funding can come from the organisation’s own cash, fundraising, in-kind contributions or can be sourced from other funders.
Local authority applicants should meet at least 25% of the total project cost from their capital budget.
There must be a clear need for our investment, which cannot replace other investment. It must be used to deliver enhanced or additional impact.
Proposals
We have adopted a two-stage approach to how proposals are considered. This will enable interested parties to submit their proposals quickly and easily and reduces any time and effort being wasted if proposals do not meet the criteria.
The application process will be applied proportionately depending on the funding request and the type of project being applied for.
1. Expression of interest
An expression of interest is not a formal application for funding but an opportunity for us to understand some of the key facts about your project. We want to know who will benefit from it, what you are hoping to achieve and how you will make it happen. We will also require a brief description of the work, an estimate of the cost and how you propose to fund it.
This information will allow us to determine if and how your project delivers against the Cycling Facilities Fund objectives, and whether it should progress to the project development and application stage. Notification of the outcome will be sent via email and those invited to progress will be sent a link to complete the online application form.
In the case of the club hub and event projects, we will use this stage to inform how we allocate funding to individual projects. As we consider how much to allocate to each project, you should be aware that this is unlikely to exceed 65% of the eligible project cost.
Interested groups should complete an expression of interest form.
Submission dates monthly are on the first of each month until the fund is fully committed.
2. Application
If you are invited to make an application, we will let you know what further information we require. Applications should be submitted by either 1 April or 1 September of each year. The application process will be specific to your project and applied proportionately depending on the complexity of the project and amount of funding requested.
How long will the process take?
We aim to respond to an expression of interest within two months.
Projects that are invited to progress to the application stage will then be supported by Scottish Cycling and sportscotland development staff to fully develop their project in line with the fund guidelines. Our decision to progress the project to the application stage does not guarantee that we will approve an investment in the project. The scale and complexity of the project will determine how long the project development stage will take.
We will let you know when your application is ready to be submitted.
Contact us
If you have any questions regarding the guidance or a potential project get in touch with one of sportscotland’s facilities project managers via facilities@sportscotland.org.uk