ST Neots will be getting a new cycle and foot bridge within five years after the town was awarded a slice of a £50million lottery grant. It has been announced today (Wednesday, December 12) that the winner of The People s £50 Million competition is Sustr

ST Neots will be getting a new cycle and foot bridge within five years after the town was awarded a slice of a £50million lottery grant.

It has been announced today (Wednesday, December 12) that the winner of The People's £50 Million competition is Sustrans: Connect2.

The Connect2 project will create new cycling and walking routes to improve travel in 79 communities across the UK. Included in the project is a new cycle and foot bridge over the Great River Ouse linking Eaton Socon and Eynesbury.

The total cost of the town's new bridge is £2.4 million with £700,000 of the £50million lottery grant going to the project and the rest coming from the local authority.

The project is able to go-ahead thanks to the 125,540 votes cast in support of it over the last two weeks. Overall 287,000 votes were cast in the competition with Connect2 winning 42 per cent - the highest proportion of votes.

The competition was the biggest ever lottery giveaway to be decided by a public vote.

John Grimshaw, CEO and founder of Sustrans said: "To say I am delighted is such an understatement - this is fantastic news for Sustrans. But, more importantly, it is fantastic for the 79 communities and many other partners and local authorities across the UK with whom we have been working for the last two years. We are extremely grateful to everyone who has supported us, but the hard work starts now to build those bridges, tunnels, crossings and networks of paths. Ultimately the real winners will be those millions of people who will now be able to Connect2 their shops, schools, workplaces and each other every day."

It is believed work will start as soon as possible on the projects with all 79, including the new St Neots bridge being completed within five years.

The competition saw four projects of national importance go head-to-head in a bid to win the massive £50 million grant. Those who missed out on the money were the Eden Project, Sherwood and the Black Country Urban Park.

INFORMATION: To find out more pick up a copy of next week's The Hunts Post out on Wednesday, December 19 or visit www.thepeoples50million.org.uk or www.sustrans.org.uk