Electric buses and 'last mile' cargo bikes are among the schemes included in a council's new £105 million transport plan.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has set out how it intends to use the multi-year transport funding settlement it has received from government, with planned investment in roads and public transport.

The authority's transport delivery plan includes £41.5 million for highways maintenance up to 2030, £6.6 million for minor road safety schemes and £12 million for improvements to walking and cycling routes.

There is also £10 million allocated to the roll-out of electric buses and supporting infrastructure in Stoke-on-Trent, while £14.1 million will be used to continue the existing affordable bus fares scheme.

A smaller scheme will see £105,000 spent on building a fleet of cargo bikes to give local businesses an alternative to using cars or vans for first or last mile deliveries.

Council leaders say the multi-year settlement – with £85.5 million of capital funding up to 2030 and £19.5 million of revenue funding up to 2029 – has allowed the authority to plan ahead, when previously it was constrained by annual funding announcements.

Cabinet members voted to approve the draft delivery plan, with the final version due to be submitted to government by September. Councillor Finlay Gordon McCusker, cabinet member for regeneration, told the cabinet meeting that the plan would be the 'start of a new chapter for transport in Stoke-on-Trent'.

He said: "For the first time in many years we've finally got a multi-year settlement for transport in the city. That is great news for everyone who drives a car, for everyone who takes a bus, for those who cycle.

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"This is about getting the basics right for everyone, everything from highways maintenance and potholes, to putting money into buses.

"One of the things I've heard a lot since we've been making these huge improvements to the bus service in the city is, 'Why don't we have electric buses, like everywhere else?' That is in the report and we will be able to do that thanks to the money we've received from government.

"We all know what it's like to be stuck in traffic across the city. Sometimes it's because of roadworks, sometimes it's just because the junctions aren't designed very well. Money has been set aside to deal with that and ensure we have proper intelligence on how junctions work and how traffic is flowing."

Other projects in the transport delivery plan include:

• Road safety studies to identify 'collision patterns and underlying risks' – £100,000
• Continuing the School Streets scheme, which bans cars from roads near schools in the morning and afternoon – £2 million
• Strategic infrastructure improvements to reduce congestion and improve connectivity – £9.06 million
• Expansion of 20mph pilots aimed at improving road safety – £800,000
• Active travel/behaviour change capacity support to encourage walking, cycling and sustainable transport – £672,000
• Extension of real time information displays and CCTV at bus stops – £2 million
• Bus routes support, subsidising bus routes and introducing new services where required – £1.577 million

The investment in public transport will build on Stoke-on-Trent's bus service improvement plan, launched under the previous Conservative administration with £31.7 million of government funding.

Councillor Chris Robinson, cabinet member for housing and a regular bus user, said there had been a clear improvement in services over the last few years.

He said: "I get a bus in the morning and it's packed. I don't mind standing up because I like to see that. They're cleaner and they're on time."

Cllr Gordon-McCusker added that a demonstration of electric buses in Stoke-on-Trent would take place soon, with a roll-out of the vehicles over the 'next year or so'.

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