By Kirsten Partridge, Senior associate and real estate specialist at law firm CMS

WITH nearly £1billion of infrastructure project funding already approved, the Glasgow City Region Deal is undoubtedly a big deal for Scotland’s largest city and its eight neighbouring local authority areas.

The initiative aims to boost investor appeal in the region, with claims that the initial investment will un-lock a further £3.3bn in private sector investment, providing a permanent uplift of £2.2bn in gross value add (GVA) to the local economy every year going forward. This is anticipated to create 15,000 initial jobs during the construction period and a further 28,000 permanent additional jobs once this phase is completed.

To be deemed a success, the City Region Deal needs to be focused on both short and long-term developments that can be clearly seen and used by the public. Among these are affordable housing projects, improvements to the Victorian drainage systems and further investment in public transport and connectivity. This includes the long-anticipated Glasgow Airport Rail Link, a project with the potential to boost Paisley town centre and improve links from Glasgow Airport to its city centre and other parts of Scotland.

Under the transport investment banner, cycle links are another key area earmarked for City and Region Deal expenditure, with a number of the planned projects focused on improving the existing network.

Cyclists will no doubt welcome this prospect but will this sort of expenditure deliver on the over-riding aims of the City and Region Deal to create jobs and bolster the economy? It’s difficult at this stage to say exactly what impact cycling investment would have on an urban environment like Glasgow, with its prominent motorway network and hilly landscape. Many within the city’s business community remain to be convinced that significant expenditure could be justified.

There is, unsurprisingly, a compelling view from the pro-cycling lobby which argues that investment in cycle routes can fuel redevelopment, improve property values and also help companies attract more talented workers. This is supported by the findings from cities like San Francisco and Copenhagen where cycling is much more prevalent than in Glasgow.

Closer to home, the UK’s second largest city has launched the Birmingham Cycle Revolution, an initiative run by its local authority which aims to make cycling an everyday way to travel in the city over the next 20 years. The initiative is promoting investment in cycling infrastructure including the creation of new paths and secure bike parking hubs with the vision that 10 per cent of all trips in the city will be made by cyclists by 2033.

Groups including Cycle UK have placed an economic value on promoting a more bike-friendly culture in the UK, claiming an increase from the existing level of cycle journeys (currently less than two per cent) to 25 per cent by 2050 would deliver cumulative benefits worth £248bn between now and 2050. This would, it claims, translate into annual benefits in 2050 worth £42bn in today’s money.

Cycle UK also points to an average economic benefit-to-cost ratio of investing in cycling and walking schemes of 13 pounds return for every pound spent and highlights production losses due to mortality and morbidity associated with cardio vascular disease which costs the UK more than £6bn every year. It also makes reference to “gross cycling product” research conducted in 2010, where it was found that cyclists directly contributed around £3bn per year to the British economy through a number of streams, including the approximately 3.6 million cycle units that are sold across Britain each year.

Meanwhile the charity Sustrans has published research showing how the UK’s National Cycle Network has saved businesses almost £33m each year by reducing staff sick days and claims that it provides a return on investment that is three times better than some roads schemes.

While it remains to be seen whether extra investment in cycle links will deliver such substantial benefits for Glasgow, it is encouraging to see that it has been the basis for both economic and social progression in other parts of the UK and across the globe. Let’s hope that as part of a raft of investment areas within the Glasgow City and Region Deal, putting extra investment into cycling helps achieve the aims of boosting the area’s economic health as well as the long-term health of its residents.

By Kirsten Partridge, Senior associate and real estate specialist at law firm CMS