Published on Thursday 23 September 2021
BCP Council has been successful in securing extra funding from the Bikeability Trust in order to run further cycling training courses at schools and training centres across the region.
The total extra funding of £80,500 means that the BCP Council Bikeability team can provide a further 2,183 course places for children this financial year. The courses cover the whole range of cycle training from teaching children to ride for the first time, all the way up to the finer points of road cycling and dealing with junctions, roundabouts and traffic queues.
The Bikeability cycle training courses have always been very popular across the BCP Council region with many children taking up the offer of cycle training. As a result, the BCP Council Bikeability team have been awarded this extra funding to provide even more places, helping children to learn and improve their cycling skills. As a result of this popularity the BCP Council Bikeability team will also look to widen participation in cycle training in the 2022/23 financial year.
Councillor Mike Greene, BCP Council’s portfolio holder for transport and sustainability said:
"This extra funding is really good news for children’s cycling skills and safety as well as for our Transforming Travel programme. By teaching children to cycle properly and learn the rules of the road, we are giving them the skills they need to stay safe on their bikes and hopefully also give them a desire to stick with cycling in the future.
"At the same time, we are also building a new, safer cycling infrastructure for them and all cyclists, as part of our Transforming Cities Fund project. If we can persuade a few more people to cycle, rather than taking a car, it will mean a reduction in the level of traffic, which will free up our congested road network, improve air quality and mean less traffic queues for drivers."
The Bikeability courses being run are:
- Balance – enables a young child to learn to balance on and ride a bike without needing stabilisers.
- Learn to ride – trains a child who can balance to pedal a bike confidently and stop safely.
- Level 1 trains children to cycle away from the road. They will learn the skills necessary to cycle safely on the road including starting and stopping safely, looking behind them, signalling and sharing the space with others.
- Level 2 teaches children to cycle confidently on quiet roads.
- Level 3 teaches those children who have completed level 1&2 to ride on busier roads. They will learn to change lanes, pass queuing traffic and tackle infrastructure such as roundabouts and junctions.
BCP Council Bikeability courses are held at Kings Park Cycle Centre and Bournemouth Velodrome as well as at schools in the area on request. Any parents or children interested in a Bikeability Course should ask about dates at their school or visit the BCP Bikeability pages.