Bikeability funding boost for Birmingham
Tens of thousands of Birmingham children will benefit from cycle training after the city was awarded a £1.2 million grant enabling the Bikeability scheme to continue until March 2020.
Birmingham City Council has been granted the funding by the Department for Transport (DfT) to continue running the Government’s flagship cycle training programme, which is designed to give children the skills and confidence to ride their bikes safely on the city’s roads.
The funding will enable 37,742 children in Birmingham to be trained over the next three-and-a-half years.
This will further boost the objectives of the council’s Birmingham Cycle Revolution, which aims to make cycling an everyday way to travel in the city over the next 20 years, with a target of five per cent of all trips in Birmingham made by bike in 2023, doubling to 10 per cent by 2033.
It also fits in with the Birmingham Connected vision, which aims to encourage safer and more sustainable forms of transport around the city.
Councillor Stewart Stacey, cabinet member for transport and roads at Birmingham City Council, said: “Birmingham has some of the busiest roads in the country, creating congestion and impacting on the environment, and one way to tackle this is to encourage people to consider alternative, more sustainable ways of travelling around the city, such as cycling.
“The children of today will be the commuters of tomorrow, so let’s ensure we equip them now with the skills and confidence they need to cycle on the city’s roads.
“This funding is great news for Birmingham and will provide a welcome boost to the objectives of the Birmingham Cycle Revolution, as well as helping to create a sustainable city for generations to come.”
Bikeability was launched nationally in 2006, with the council delivering the scheme in the city’s schools since 2007.
