Cycling England was an independent body funded by the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport ...

to promote cycling in England. It was founded in 2005 to replace the National Cycling Strategy Board. Following the 2010 Comprehensive Spending review it was earmarked for abolition, to be replaced by Local Sustainability Travel Funds and new ways of supporting cycling. Cycling England ceased to exist as a public body on 1 April 2011.Cycling England
on Department of Transport Website. Retrieved 2 May 2011.

History

It was established in 2005, with the minister responsible being Charlotte Atkins. Funding was initially £5m a year, leading to £10m in 2006, £20m in 2008, and £60m in 2009 and 2010. An announcement in October 2010 confirmed that the body would be abolished as part of the government's

comprehensive spending review A spending review, or occasionally a comprehensive spending review, is a governmental process in the United Kingdom carried out by HM Treasury to set firm expenditure limits and, through public service agreements, define the key improvements that ...

. Cycling England ceased to exist as a public body on 1 April 2011. The government has created a Local Sustainability Travel Fund and will develop other ways of supporting cycling. Local Sustainability Travel Funds which were announced in late September 2010 by

Norman Baker Norman John Baker (born 26 July 1957) is a Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom who was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewes (UK Parliament constituency), Lewes in ...

will support local transport initiatives that reduce

carbon emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...

using from a centrally managed fund.

Projects

Cycling Cities, Cycling Towns

Cycling England helped establish a number of

cycling demonstration town Cycling demonstration towns were part of a UK policy initiative to promote cycling that ran from 2005-2011. 2005: launch In 2005, 6 towns in England were chosen to be cycling demonstration towns to promote the use of cycling as a means of transp ...

s. Between 2005 and 2008 six towns across England received European levels of funding to significantly increase their cycling levels

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery and the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Waterside Theatre. It is located in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wycombe and Milt ...

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority area, ceremonially in East Sussex, England. There are multiple villages alongside the seaside resorts of Brighton and Hove in the district. It is administe ...

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

and ' Lancaster with

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

' collectively received over £7m from Cycling England across three years, plus local match-funding, to deliver a range of measures designed to get more people cycling. In January 2008, the Government provided a further £140m over three years for the program which was awarded to

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, Leighton-Linslade,

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

and

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

in June 2008 .

Bikeability

Bikeability was launched in March 2007 and supported three levels of cycle training for children: * Level One : teaching basic skills and bicycle handling * Level Two : giving children the skills they need to cycle safely to school on quiet roads * Level Three : covering more complicated traffic environments The scheme was adopted by half the local authorities in England and it worked closely with 'Bike to School Week'. It was estimated that by 2012, 500,000 children will have taken part in Bikeability training.

National Cycle Journey Planner

Cycling England worked for Transport Direct to provide a national urban Cycle Journey Planner through the

Transport Direct Portal The Transport Direct Portal was a distributed Internet-based multi-modal journey planner providing information for travel in England, Wales and Scotland. It was managed by Transport Direct, a division of the Department for Transport. It was la ...

. Work is largely complete with a number of pilot areas.

Management

Cycling England was managed by a board consisting of: * Phillip Darnton (previously chair of the National Cycle Strategy Board) * Alison Hill (Managing Director of Solutions for Public Health) * Peter King (Chief Executive at

British Cycling British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federation) is the main national sport governing body, governing body for cycle sport in United Kingdom, Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands a ...

) * Kevin Mayne (chief Executive of the

Cyclists' Touring Club Cycling UK is a trading name of the Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC), which is a charitable membership organisation supporting cyclists and promoting bicycle use. Cycling UK is registered at Companies House as "Cyclists’ Touring Club", and is c ...

) * Dave Merrett (elected member of

City Council, previous leader of Transport from 1988–2002) * Malcolm Shepherd (Chief executive of

Sustrans Sustrans ( ) is a United Kingdom-based walking, wheeling and cycling charity, and the custodian of the National Cycle Network. Its flagship project is the National Cycle Network, which has created of signed cycle routes throughout the United ...

) * Dr Lynn Sloman (Vice-Chair of the Commission for Integrated Transport) * Chris Spencer (Director of Education & Children’s Services at the

London Borough of Hillingdon The London Borough of Hillingdon () is a London borough in Greater London, England. It forms part of outer London and West London, being the westernmost London borough. It was formed in 1965 from the districts of Hayes and Harlington Urban Distr ...

) *

Christian Wolmar Christian Tage Forter Wolmar (born 3 August 1949) is a British journalist, author, railway historian and Labour Party campaigner.The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

)

References

External links

Official website

Official Bikeability website

News items

Cycling in towns in February 2010

New mothers in October 2009

Parents fears in May 2008

Cycling training in schools in March 2008

New cycling test in March 2007

Wealthier cyclists in January 2007

Government funding in June 2006
{{Authority control Department for Transport Cycling organisations in the United Kingdom Cycling in England Defunct non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government Organisations based in the City of Westminster Sports organizations established in 2005 2005 establishments in England Organizations disestablished in 2011 2011 disestablishments in England