Bikeability Trust invests more than £1.6million to get more kids cycling

More children will be given the opportunity to learn to cycle thanks to new funding from the Bikeability Trust and Department for Transport.

Forty-four projects will receive a share of more than £1.6million from the Widening Participation Fund. The Fund is being released to help achieve the Government’s ambition to offer cycle training to every child. The money will be used to fund projects that help children who wouldn’t usually learn how to cycle become confident cyclists.

Many children face barriers to cycling. The Active Lives children’s survey found that boys are more likely to be active than girls, children from affluent areas are more likely to be active than children from poorer backgrounds, and children from ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely to be less active than children from white backgrounds.

To overcome these challenges, the Widening Participation Fund is supporting projects that remove these barriers and help children learn to ride and keep cycling into adulthood.

Research shows that cycling at a young age has a long-term beneficial impact on the health of children, right through to adulthood. Studies have shown that cycling provides positive experiences, enjoyment, self-esteem, reduced stress and improved mood.

Across England more than 1000 bikes will be purchased for children from deprived areas to learn to ride on. Alongside the bikes, projects will deliver Bikeability sessions in the community to enable children and their parents to learn to cycle together. Children from Black, Asian, and other ethnic minority backgrounds will benefit from community-based projects to help them access cycle training. Other projects will empower girls to cycle more by improving self-esteem and providing aspirational female cycling role models.

Emily Cherry, Chief Executive at the Bikeability Trust, said: “Our mission is to ensure every child can learn how to cycle. These innovative projects will address the barriers that could prevent a child from learning to ride.

“I am so proud of the creativity and originality we have seen in the successful bids. With the support and ingenuity of the organisations out there delivering Bikeability, our mission is on track. From providing cycles to giving children inspirational cycling role models, the Widening Participation Fund projects will give more children and their families discover the joys of cycling.”

The Bikeability Trust has invested more than £1.9million in helping children access cycling, through the Innovation Fund and the Widening Participation Fund. Read what a difference our funding made to Charlie, Faith and Sabrin.

The successful projects were:

• Using immersive reality to allow more teenagers to access Bikeability. By Brunel University, Hillingdon.
• Targeting Bikeability sessions at teenage girls during the summer holidays. By LB Islington.
• Piloting Bikeability as part of the PE curriculum. By London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.
• Using mountain biking and BMX to help teach cycling and embedding Bikeability into PE lessons. By The Bicycle Society.
• Purchasing bikes to teach children cycling as part of the PE curriculum. By Bonneville Primary, Clapham.
• Funding deaf instructors to help teach deaf children how to cycle. By Elrem Foundation CIC.
• Delivering cycle instructor training to people from Black, Asian and other ethnic minority backgrounds to support the community delivery of Bikeability. By Cycle Instructor Tower Hamlets.
• Providing bikes to help reach communities which do not usually access Bikeability. By Wheely Tots, Haringey and Waltham Forest.
• Using the funding to set up a bike library and introduce community champions to inspire teenage girls to start cycling. By Sustrans, London and Essex.
• Using BMX to encourage more girls and children from Black, Asian and other ethnic minority backgrounds to enjoy cycling. By Access Sport.
• Encouraging girls to cycle by the Active Wellbeing Society, Birmingham
• Helping children from deprived backgrounds access cycle training by Learn Cycle, Shrewsbury
• Reaching children in deprived areas with a Bikeability bus by Active Together, Leicestershire
• Empowering teenage girls to cycle by Spoke Out, Derby
• Teach younger children to ride and encourage girls by Derby City Council
• Introducing more bike clubs by Ride Wise, Nottingham
• Introducing female cycling role models by Handsworth Association of School, Birmingham
• Introducing cycling fun days and school competitions to enable more cycling. By OpenTrail, Worcestershire
• Funding to support delivering Bikeability to children with SEND. By Bikeright, Herefordshire.
• Bringing pop-up Bikeability sessions to deprived areas in the school holidays. By The Inspire Group, Walsall.
• Using adventurous cycling activities to encourage and empower more girls to start cycling. By Handsworth Association of Schools, Birmingham.
• Helping children who don’t have access to a cycle access a bike library, including safety equipment. Giving children and their families essential bike maintenance skills. By Broken Spoke, Oxford.
• In South Shields, Bright Futures, will use the Fund to work with girls and young women to help address the barriers they face to cycling. The project will teach cycling, improve confidence, and help girls and women learn essential  bike maintenance skills.
• Introducing school cycling clubs, buying bikes for school use and training teachers as instructors. By St John’s Primary School, Newcastle.
• The creation of a learning centre for cycling within a public local park to deliver Bikeability to groups who do not currently access cycle training and create a ‘cycle culture’ within deprived communities. By RISE, Sunderland.
• Introducing more cycling into the curriculum in pupil referral units to help older teenagers learn to cycle. By Breaking Cycles CIC, Clitheroe.
• Improving access to cycles and training young people in bike maintenance. By Chorley School Sports Partnership.
• Giving girls access to female cycling role models. By Wave Adventure, Bolton.
• Providing adapted bikes to support children with special educational needs. By Sporting NRG, Blackburn.
• Helping children to stay cycling through bike loans, bike maintenance and group rides. By Hyndburn and Ribble School Sports Partnership, Burnley.
• Delivering Bikeability in the community to reach more deprived areas. By Cycle of Life, Liverpool.
• Providing Bikeability training and bike maintenance classes to tenants to enable children and their families to cycle more. By Newground, Lancashire.
• Delivering Bikeability in areas of deprivation Bikeability in the school holidays in areas where children do not access cycle training during term time. By Go Velo, Lancashire.
• Delivering Bikeability to looked after children and giving young people in care the opportunity to train as Bikeability instructors. By MG Cycling Academy, Stockport.
• Helping 60 children from the South Asian community enjoy an immersive cycling experience, including access to cycles and cycling holidays. By IMO Charity, Blackburn.
• Running an 18 week programme that tackles the barriers that teenage girls face when cycling. Addressing self-esteem, body image and negative attitudes to physical activity. By Take Pride CIC, Gravesend.
• Combining Bikeability with other wellbeing activities to encourage more children to cycle. By PACE, Canterbury.
• Funding for interpreters to help give 90 aslyum seeker children Bikeability training. By Hertfordshire CC 1 Asylum.
• Funding to buy bikes and fund instructors to target Bikeability in areas of deprivation and increase delivery to children with SEND. By Cyclopark, Gravesend.
• In Essex, children who have not accessed Bikeability due to financial, social and emotional barriers will receive pre-Bikeability fun sessions to prepare them for Bikeability Learn to Ride. Funding will be used to set up a ‘borrow a bike’ scheme in the community to help those children continue to access bikes. The project will also work with teenage girls who do not own their own bike or are not confident in cycling to access Bikeability. By The Deanes and Active Essex. 
• Using adventure rides and cycleball sessions to encourage more children to take up Bikeability By Monty’s Community Hub, Southampton.
• Funding to deliver Bikeability sessions in the community to reach 350 families from deprived and ethnic minority backgrounds. By Life Cycle, Bristol.
• In Kirklees, Legacy Ride will use their funding to provide a fleet of cycles for use by schools where children may not have access to cycles at home. Cycles will be used to take part in Bikeability and other clubs and classes, to help embed cycling into the school community.
• In Bradford, Bike Futures will support Asian families to cycle more by putting on Dr Bike sessions, teaching Bikeability in the community and training more instructors from ethnic minority backgrounds.
• In Cambridge and across the east of England, Outspoken will enable more children to cycle by removing the barrier of owning a cycle. Refurbished and donated cycles will be collected and distributed to children who do not have one of their own.