Plans have been unveiled in England to offer cycling training to every child there as part of a wider £2.4 billion active travel plan.
The move comes as campaigners in Ireland have been lobbying for an increase in cycling funding for the construction of basic cycling facilities such as cycle lanes and segregated cycle lanes in urban areas.
In Ireland videos of children cycling to school have at times been greeted with shock while other footage emerging online recently revealed the obstacles facing kids cycling to school.
The plans to
offer training in cycling competency and safe cycling to children in England
mean an extra 400,000 training places on the existing Bikeability programme.
In England more
than 80 per cent of 8-10 year olds own a bike. In the past 14 years more than
three million children have availed of Bikeability training, which was founded
in 2006.
Advertisement
Related News
Chris Boardman, cycling and walking commissioner for Greater Manchester, welcomed the plan
to expand the training across England.
“Giving all children the opportunity to learn to ride a
bike is absolutely the right thing to do and you’d be hard-pressed to find a parent who would disagree,” he said.
“However,
if you ask parents whether they feel comfortable letting their children cycle
on the streets of our towns and cities today, you’d struggle to find many who
would readily raise their hands.
“Without providing children with safe places to continue
this habit into their everyday lives, this investment can’t be truly maximised.
It’s like training an athlete up for the Olympics and then not putting them on
their flight to compete.”
“Our world-class plans for cycling and walking in Greater
Manchester will enable this safe and accessible network across all ten
districts, and kick start the long term culture change that’s happened in
places like Copenhagen, where more than
50 per cent of children now ride to school.
“All we
need is for the Government to back us with the funds required to deliver our
plan and revolutionise travel for a whole city-region and ultimately, for a
nation.”
Topics
