Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron (left), the manager of Watford Cycle Hub, Kate Jenkins (second left), and Olympic champion track cyclists Victoria Pendleton, and Chris Hoy (right), are seen to promote a government initiative on cycling, in Watford, southern England, yesterday.
LONDON: Prime minister David Cameron announced the largest injection of public money into cycling in Britain, with support from the nation’s most successful Olympian, Chris Hoy.
The £77m fund is designed to promote cycling in eight cities in an effort to put Britain on a level footing with countries known for higher levels of cycling such as Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.
The cash will pay for upgrades and other improvements to help cyclists at 14 locations on the trunk road network where major roads have been identified as posing an obstacle for bike journeys.
Flanked by six-time Olympic champion cyclist Hoy, Cameron said: “Following our success in the Olympics, the Paralympics and the Tour de France, British cycling is riding high - now we want to see cycling soar. Our athletes have shown they are among the best in the world and we want to build on that, taking our cycling success beyond the arena and onto the roads, starting a cycling revolution which will remove the barriers for a new generation of cyclists.”
The £77m, divided between Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, Bristol, Cambridge, Oxford and Norwich, will help improve existing cycle networks and pay for new ones.Greater Manchester (£20m), West Yorkshire (£18.1m) and Birmingham (£17m) will between them receive the bulk of the funding. Cameron said the government “wants to make it easier and safer for people who already cycle as well as encouraging far more people to take it up”.
The government said it takes the total new funding for cycling, including local contributions, to £148m between now and 2015, and investment in the eight cities to more than £10 per head per year, the base figure recommended by the all-party parliamentary cycling group and national cycling charity CTC. GUARDIAN
