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Eight cities invited to bid for share of £6.5m in latest round of Cycle City Ambition fundingManchester Oxford Road bus stop bypass (image supplied by TfGM)

Eight cities invited to bid for share of £6.5m in latest round of Cycle City Ambition funding

New research by Cycling UK reveals £23 per person cost to tackle obesity
by Alex Bowden
Sat, Feb 17, 2018 12:34
9

The eight cities to have benefited from Cycle City Ambition funding have been invited to bid for a share of an additional £6.5m. £500,000 of funding has also been announced for Cycling UK’s Big Bike Revival.

In August 2013, David Cameron announced £77 million of Cycle City Ambition funding, a large proportion of which went to Greater Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham. A further £17 million was also made available to boost cycling in National Parks.

The second wave of funding saw the same three places gain an additional £22m along with Bristol (£19 million), Newcastle (£10.6 million), Norwich (£8.4 million), Cambridge (£6 million) and Oxford (£3.3 million).

All eight cities have now been invited to bid for a share of an additional £6.5m. The Department for Transport says it will be looking to support schemes which improve safety for cyclists and which also deliver benefits for pedestrians.

Cycling Minister Jesse Norman said: “Everyone should be able to take advantage of the huge health and environmental benefits of cycling.

“While Britain has some of the safest roads in the world, we want to encourage more people to take up cycling. This funding, as part of our overall cycling and walking strategy, will help local councils to make their roads safer for everyone.”

A further £500,000 has been set aside to support Cycling UK’s Big Bike Revival project – an initiative helping to get more people cycling safely and confidently across the country.

Paul Tuohy, Chief Executive of Cycling UK, said: “Last year the Big Bike Revival reached more than 50,000 people in England, and produced more than 6,000 regular cyclists, so the project represents incredible value for money.

“I’m delighted that the Department for Transport has recognised its significance by funding it for another year so we can get even more people cycling every day.”

Every year, the NHS spends around £5.1bn treating illnesses directly attributable to obesity – a sum that work out around £77 per person in the UK.

The Big Bike Revival resulted in 18,500 people cycling more regularly last year – for a cost of only £23.81 per person.

Tuohy added: “It’s incredible that for only £23 a person, we can get more people cycling and tackle a health crisis that’s costing the NHS billions of pounds every year.

“The Big Bike Revival represents incredible value for money, and I’m delighted that the Department for Transport has recognised the significance of the project by funding it for another year so we can get more people cycling every day.

“It’s not only the health benefits. More people cycling can only have a positive impact on our environment. Every year, it’s estimated that air pollutions costs the UK economy up to £10 billion, so it also has a big environmental and financial impact.”

Launched in 2015, the Big Bike Revival enables people to get their unused bikes back into working order with free cycle checks, servicing and cycle maintenance, and also involves training and accompanied rides to help people build confidence cycling.

In 2017, events were held in 136 locations, with 37 per cent of people taking part coming from the most deprived areas of the country.

As well as developing more regular cyclists, around 45 per cent of those who participated said they now felt safer cycling.

Cycle City Ambition
cycling uk
Big Bike Revival
Jesse Norman
Alex Bowden

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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9 comments

Avatar
brooksby | 6 years ago
0 likes

http://cyclingfront.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/dfts-pennies-for-cycling-campaign-you.html

Avatar
Al__S | 6 years ago
2 likes

Because to be honest I want to see Cycling UK tie itself in knots trying to explain why dutch standard infrastructure parallel to what's a motorway in all but name isn't good enough.

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds replied to Al__S | 6 years ago
8 likes

Al__S wrote:

Because to be honest I want to see Cycling UK tie itself in knots trying to explain why dutch standard infrastructure parallel to what's a motorway in all but name isn't good enough.

I've ridden on the A63 and I've ridden on many roads around the East Riding, I was born in Kingston upon Hull and cycle there every visit I make to see the folks so I have a reasonable idea of the score.

1. It isn't a motorway, not even close, the average number of motorists per hour is massively less even than on the start section of the M62, this from the data on the DfT website. 

2. The basis of banning is flawed, going by the reasoning we should ban motorvehicles or massively restrict their use, given the number of incidents and deaths on that stretch, or any stretch of road.

3. Putting a ban in place using the reasons given would see bans on pretty much every trunk road, through road and many A roads both dual and single carriageways, you might as well abn cycling on all roads with a speed limit over 40mph, that includes pretty much all country roads. In fact given the traffic count is used you might as well ban cycling on through roads in cities.

4. Dutch style infra is not good enough for out of town fast cycling, 2.5metres isn't wide enough, even in NL sporting cyclists don't cycle on the cycle infra and it's also not even there on all roads out of town, so even in the best country in the world for cycle infra it doesn't cover all the bases.

In any case getting a 2.5m cycle lane alongside major routes will never ever happen in the UK, we can't even get basic std routes right in towns and cities never mind the full length of all roads with a 50mph or higher speed limit, even less of a chance that it'll be uninterrupted.

Bring the speeds down to 50mph on ALL A roads, police motorists better, punish those posing the harm not the victims, THAT is the way to partly resolve the problem not pushing road users away. It's a failed way to address the issues and always has been.

 

Avatar
burtthebike replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
0 likes

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Al__S wrote:

Because to be honest I want to see Cycling UK tie itself in knots trying to explain why dutch standard infrastructure parallel to what's a motorway in all but name isn't good enough.

I've ridden on the A63 and I've ridden on many roads around the East Riding, I was born in Kingston upon Hull and cycle there every visit I make to see the folks so I have a reasonable idea of the score.

1. It isn't a motorway, not even close, the average number of motorists per hour is massively less even than on the start section of the M62, this from the data on the DfT website. 

2. The basis of banning is flawed, going by the reasoning we should ban motorvehicles or massively restrict their use, given the number of incidents and deaths on that stretch, or any stretch of road.

3. Putting a ban in place using the reasons given would see bans on pretty much every trunk road, through road and many A roads both dual and single carriageways, you might as well abn cycling on all roads with a speed limit over 40mph, that includes pretty much all country roads. In fact given the traffic count is used you might as well ban cycling on through roads in cities.

4. Dutch style infra is not good enough for out of town fast cycling, 2.5metres isn't wide enough, even in NL sporting cyclists don't cycle on the cycle infra and it's also not even there on all roads out of town, so even in the best country in the world for cycle infra it doesn't cover all the bases.

In any case getting a 2.5m cycle lane alongside major routes will never ever happen in the UK, we can't even get basic std routes right in towns and cities never mind the full length of all roads with a 50mph or higher speed limit, even less of a chance that it'll be uninterrupted.

Bring the speeds down to 50mph on ALL A roads, police motorists better, punish those posing the harm not the victims, THAT is the way to partly resolve the problem not pushing road users away. It's a failed way to address the issues and always has been.

Thanks for the explanation.  I did wonder what Al__S was on about, but I certainly wasn't going to ask.

Avatar
Al__S | 6 years ago
3 likes

Mindyou if instead of the nominated councils it went to East Riding then it would probably fund a 4m-5m wide cycleway alongside the A63

Avatar
Al__S | 6 years ago
6 likes

£6.5million is governmental small change. It's petty cash. It's stuf foound cleaning the sofa.

 

I don't know about the other cities, but in Cambridge at least the previous round of CCA money have been big enough to be put towards transformative infrastructure. I doubt that will happen with such paltry offerings

 

We need consistent, reliable, funding, nationally.

Avatar
Grahamd | 6 years ago
2 likes

“Launched in 2015, the Big Bike Revival” ... couldn’t have been that big as this is the first I have heard of it!

Avatar
brooksby | 6 years ago
5 likes

I wonder how much of all those allocated monies actually went on cycling specific infrastructure and how much went on white paint, or bus lanes that bikes can use, or new footpaths that bikes can use, etc...?

Avatar
burtthebike | 6 years ago
10 likes

Great that the bike revival is getting some funding and continuing, well done CUK, but the pathetic level of funding for the rest is disgraceful.  With HS2 now forecast to cost over £100bn, massive road schemes also costing billions, £6.5m for cycling in a few places isn't just crumbs off the table, it's a single crumb.

The government, and all politicians acknowledge the massive benefits to society of increasing cycling, and make lots of nice noises, but all we get are enquiries about dangerous cycling and all the money spent on something else, anything else.

Where is the long term vision and the investment?  Certainly not in the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, ably summed up by CUK as "very little strategy and even less investment."  Any sensible transport strategy would be prioritising walking and cycling, with appropriate funding, but we have exactly the opposite.

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