Local authority partner signs up just in time

Two years almost to the day after Sustrans Connect2 project won the Big Lottery Fund prize, and in the nick of time, Norwich City Council and Sustrans have signed up to the binding Memorandum of Agreement that has to be ratified before any money can be released.  

Any further delay and Sustrans would have had to call time on the project, and the prospect of £900,000 towards the costs of the network of footpaths and bridges linking the city centre, Whitlingham and Thorpe would have disappeared.

Practical management arrangements give hope of progress

Along with removal of a bureaucratic obstacle comes a simplified and much more practical management system just announced under the grand title of 'Project Governance'.  These new arrangements* should improve the chances of getting real work on the ground done in time for the award to be claimed, and unlock new sources of funding.