A grant of £800,000 has been secured to provide cycle training for up to 10,000 primary school children in Essex over the next two years.
Essex County Council has been awarded the funding by Bikeability Trust UK, which administers the national Bikeability programme on behalf of Active Travel England.
Bikeability is the government’s national cycle training programme, giving young people practical skills and confidence to safely cycle on roads. The training is delivered by qualified, expert instructors and is available all year round.
Nearly 4,000 sessions have so far been delivered by the Essex cycle training team to primary school children in 2023.
During the summer holiday, over 200 young people took part in 42 different Bikeability courses which included Learn to Ride, a course transforming non-riders into confident cyclists; and Bikeability Level 1, which focuses on maintenance, control and foundation skills.
Councillor Tom Cunningham, Cabinet Member for Highways, Infrastructure and Sustainable Transport, said: “Our ambition is to make sure that no child leaves primary school in Essex without the knowledge, confidence and opportunity to ride a bike. The Bikeability training programme will ensure they have better road skills and more choice when travelling around their communities.”
More information on cycling in Essex is available at https://www.essexhighways.org/safer-greener-healthier/safer-greener-healthier-cycling.
