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Not sure if this has been raised before ( and I suspect most folk here are already aware of it) but thought someone should post an awareness raiser. The more cyclists vote (for Sustrans!) the better so get family and friends to support the cyclist cause.

Everyday Cycling is lending its support to sustainable transport charity Sustrans' £50 million Big Lottery Fund bid, which aims to invest in 79 communities across the UK to improve on cycling and walking facilities. Online voting for the People's £50 Million Lottery Giveaway has now begun at www.thepeoples50million.org.uk.

In this winner-takes-all contest Sustrans' Connect2 project is up against 3 other organisations - the Eden Project : The Edge, Black Country Urban Park, and Sherwood: The Living Legend, with the winner to be decided by public vote over the coming weeks.

Everyday Cycling is supporting Sustrans' Connect2 because it will transform local travel in towns, cities and villages throughout the UK. By building new bridges and crossings over busy roads, railways and rivers, and linking these into networks of paths, Connect2 will enable people to get where they want to go under their own steam. So whether children are going to school, people to work and the shops, or friends and family to visit each other, they'll be able to travel on foot and bike for many more journeys.

As many as 6 million people live within a mile of a proposed Connect2 scheme, and 1 million children are attending schools within the same distance. As many as 60 million active, healthy, low carbon journeys will be made each year on the Connect2 schemes, potentially saving 79,000 tonnes of carbon - the equivalent of emissions from 79,000 people's annual car use.

If you'd like to know more about Connect2 before making up your mind, take a look at www.sustransconnect2.org.uk.

There are three opportunities to vote - online, from a landline and by mobile. Online voting has begun at www.thepeoples50million.org.uk with phone voting starting at 9am on Friday 7th December. All voting concludes at 12 noon on Monday 10th December.

If you would like to be sent the phone number to vote when it becomes available please register at www.sustransconnect2.org.uk or text 'Connect2' to 80010.

If you do vote for Sustrans' Connect2 (and we really hope you do!), many thanks and please do forward this e-mail to your own contacts and urge them to vote too.

Just a reminder to vote if you haven't already done so. The voting ends on Monday at noon.You can now vote by phone - details below:

Dear Connect2 Supporter

Phone voting for Sustrans' Connect2 has begun
Many thanks if you have already voted online for Sustrans' Connect2 at www.thepeoples50million.org.uk and for spreading the word to your own contacts.
Everyone can now vote from a landline and mobile.* Voting is restricted to one vote per phone number, so switchboard numbers will only count once. Even if hundreds of people vote from extensions through one switchboard, it will only count as one vote. If you can, please vote from home and by mobile.
Call 0870 24 24 602 now to vote for Sustrans' Connect2

Please be reassured that this is not a premium rate phone line, and calls from a BT landline will cost no more than 10p. Calls from mobiles and other operators may be higher.
All voting closes at 12 noon on Monday 10th December, so if you haven't already voted online please do before Monday. The winner of the £50 million will be announced on 12th December.
Thank you so much for your support of Connect2 - we really do need every vote because we are up against strong competition and advertising by some competitors. Please do pass on the phone and online voting details to everyone you know.
Thank you again

The Connect2 Team

PS The round-up programme showing all the competitors is tonight on ITV1 at 11.05 (ITV regions may vary).