School children from Stone will continue to benefit from free cycling training over the next three years.
Bikeability, the National Standard cycling proficiency scheme, run by Staffordshire County Council provides secondary school aged children with free biking lessons to encourage safer cycling.
The training enables children to progress from traffic free riding to quiet residential roads, before building confidence on busier roads while increasing their awareness of other road users.
The £1.2 million funding for the next three years has been made available from the Department for Transport. Recognising the County Council’s efforts over the last ten years providing training to around 68,000 pupils.
Mark Deaville, Cabinet Member for Transport and Highways at Staffordshire County Council explained that the Council is committed to developing its cycling network and training to encourage more people to get on their bike.
[box type=”shadow” align=”aligncenter” ]Mark said: “Cycle training through Bikeability is an important part of getting more young people interested in cycling and we are delighted with the additional funding. Getting young people interested in cycling at a young age is what we want to see and usually means they’re more likely to continue with it when they are older.
“The County Council has invested around £5 million in cycling infrastructure improvements over the last two years, making us a much more connected county than ever before. Thanks to these improvements, roughly three-quarters of people living in our towns now live within one mile of a national cycleway route.” [/box]
Every year up to 10,000 Staffordshire pupils receive training, and cycling is fast becoming one of the county’s favourite pastimes.
With acres of country parks, miles of canal towpaths and miles upon miles of cycle paths, the county continues to be a great place for cycling.
[box type=”info” align=”aligncenter” ]Individual cycling maps for all districts, which show both traffic free and quieter routes suitable for cycling and on the road are also available from local libraries or can be downloaded at www.staffordshire.gov.uk/cycling. [/box]
