A BORIS bike-style scheme for Brighton and Hove is set to become a reality after £1.16 million of funding was signed off.

The bike sharing service will see 430 bikes available from a minimum of 50 docking points in the city.

Brighton and Hove City Council will now put the provisional three-year contract out to tender after Coast to Capital (C2C) agreed the £1.16 million grant on Thursday.

The council will fund the remaining £290,000 start-up costs.

The C2C grant had been provisionally offered earlier this year but was only signed off on Thursday.

It comes after councillors backed the scheme at a meeting on Tuesday.

Cllr Gill Mitchell, lead member for environment and transport, said: “This is the final piece of the jigsaw and we can now move ahead with finding an operator for the scheme.

"It will give more choice to those who live, work or visit the city – providing the opportunity to get around by bike, even if you don’t own or can’t bring one with you.”

The council's vision is to have a Boris bike style scheme with 430 bikes available for hire across the city.

The council has estimated the scheme will bring benefits for road safety valued at £19,000 a year, £147,000 for health, £33,000 on absenteeism, plus other benefits for users valued at £447,000 a year.

It is also hoped it will tackle physical inactivity which costs local health services over £3 million a year.

The project is backed by public and private sector partners including Southern Railway, both universities, Regency GP surgery, the city’s public health department, Brighton and Hove Buses, Velo Cafe and the Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership.

It is hoped the plan will eliminate around 300,000 car journeys a year from the city, helping reduce congestion, improve air quality and speed journey times.

At the council meeting on Tuesday, members raised concerns about the pick-up points with cllr Alan Robins, for South Portslade, urging that areas west of Hove are included, such as Portslade station.