Bikeability Plus funding announcement
We’re delighted to share the news that the Department for Transport will be funding Bikeability Plus delivery across England from September 2016. £5m of the £50m allocated for Bikeability delivery until 2020 will fund Bikeability Plus.
Bikeability Plus is a new programme to remove key barriers to getting children cycling more often, complementing the existing Bikeability training package. It will encourage children and families to take up cycling and providing them with the skills to keep on cycling into adulthood.
Bikeability Plus includes modules such as training for 3-4 year olds to use balance bikes, to give them a fun, positive introduction to cycling as they start school. Older children will also be shown how to fix and maintain their bikes themselves – so they can keep on cycling and stay active safely. These are but two of the 11 modules in total; please see the document store for module descriptions.
The new modules will allow schools and local authorities to tailor the training they offer to meet local challenges.
Bikeability Plus has already been successfully piloted in 18 areas across England with over 16,000 children taking part. Monitoring of the pilot found that the number of children who cycled to school at least once a week increased from 4% to 10%.
Cycling Minister Robert Goodwill said: “We want Britain to become a cycling nation and Bikeability Plus will be an important contribution to get more children cycling safely and with confidence. There is no better way to make sure future generations of cyclists use healthy and green transport options. Bikeability has trained more than 1.5 million children to cycle since 2010. This new training will help children, including those from disadvantaged communities to experience cycling for the first time.”