Cycle Safely with Bikeability, says MP

Stockport MP Ann Coffey has welcomed news of a £24,000 grant from the Department of Transport to provide cycle training for up to 600 Stockport schoolchildren by March 2009. 

This funding is part of a national package announced this week which will give children the skills and confidence to cycle safely on the roads, enabling them, for example, to cycle to school.

Bikeability is the new National Cycle Training Standard – cycling proficiency for the 21st century.  It has been designed and developed by leading road safety and cycling organisations, including CTC, the national cycling organisation and RoSPA, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.  It involves three levels of training, with some on-road training being introduced at level 2, aimed at 10 – 11 year olds.

Ann Coffey said:  “You need to learn to cycle safely when you are young, especially when traffic congestion is such a problem.  The Bikeability Scheme is good news because it offers a high standard of training. Quite naturally, parents need to be sure that their children are properly equipped to use the roads before letting them go out on their bikes.”

Stockport is one of the first 68 local authorities to receive a cycle training grant for the first year of the national scheme, 2008 – 2009.