Pop-up cycleways, temporary road closures and extra cycle parking in town centres are just some of the options Buckinghamshire Council is looking at as lockdown eases.

Buckinghamshire Council transport chief Nick Naylor said that with the effects of Covid-19 likely to be with us for some time to come, there is a need to make things as safe as possible now - but also to grasp new opportunities that will be better for people's health and promote improvements to the environment.

This comes in the form of an emergency travel plan - funded by government cash after the council successfully bid to the Department for Transport for around £2.35 million.

So far, the council has £514,000 of that total funding pot.

Cllr Naylor said: "The pandemic has pressed a massive global reset button. Of course, while we all want things to get back to normal, there may be areas where a change in habits would be really beneficial.

"Things like working from home, less need to travel and more use of online services have already resulted in less pollution, better air quality and other environmental benefits.

"We can potentially learn from this and encourage different ways of doing things going forward.”

He said that the council was busy looking at a range of options and had kept a log of walking and cycling schemes people had suggested in the past few weeks.

He added: "Of course, we don't have the money to tackle everything, so we're focusing on areas where we can make the biggest difference with temporary and ‘pop-up’ measures.

"The advantage of these schemes is that because they are temporary they can be altered.

"If they work really well some could become permanent, but we’ll be keen to hear local feedback and see how well these measures perform before any decisions like that are made.”

The council says there could be more opportunities for longer term changes that they think will benefit communities, the local economy and the environment, with a second round of permanent active travel measures.

This could include more electric vehicle charging points and potentially taking part in the government’s e-scooter trials.

Clive Harriss, cabinet member for sports and leisure added: "All the measures under consideration need to complement everything being done locally to restart the economy and reopen our high streets, schools and other community facilities.

"It needs to be a focussed effort and as Nick says, a perfect opportunity to think about changing some of our habits going forward, particularly around cycling and walking."

More details on the temporary schemes to be put in place as part of the initial phase will be announced by the council in the coming weeks.