Skip to main content

UK investment to make it easier and safer to get on your bike

UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has announced the UK Government’s biggest single investment in cycling, which includes US$179 million to secure funding to support the Cycling Ambition Cities Programme for the next three years in Bristol, Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich and Oxford accelerate their development of local cycling networks, increase protection for cyclists at junctions and traffic hot spots and help prevent accidents. US$157 million will also be invested over t
November 28, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has announced the UK Government’s biggest single investment in cycling, which includes US$179 million to secure funding to support the Cycling Ambition Cities Programme for the next three years in Bristol, Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich and Oxford accelerate their development of local cycling networks, increase protection for cyclists at junctions and traffic hot spots and help prevent accidents.

US$157 million will also be invested over the next years to improve the conditions for cyclists and walkers travelling alongside and crossing Britain’s most important and busiest roads, or the Strategic Road Network.

This brings the total invested in cycling by the government to US$924 million.

Recent research commissioned by British Cycling found that if the UK became a cycling nation like the Netherlands or Denmark it could: save the NHS £17 billion within 20 years; reduce road deaths by three per cent; increase mobility of the nation’s poorest families by 25 per cent; and increase retail sales by a quarter.

The Deputy Prime Minister will also launch two new initiatives to help inspire a new generation of cyclists: a new scheme from Halfords, which will recondition and donate bikes and helmets to primary school children in disadvantaged areas of the 8 current cycling cities; and a new pilot scheme to enhance the Bikeability cycle training programme to provide extra training to schools and parents, each designed to address a specific barrier to cycling.

Related Content

  • Cycle safety improvements coming for Dunedin, New Zealand
    July 21, 2017
    Work is set to start next month on a cycleway through central Dunedin, New Zealand, that aims to improve safety for cyclists, pedestrians and all road users. Fulton Hogan has been awarded a (US$6 million (NZ$8 million) contract to build new cycle lanes on the north and southbound streets of the State Highway 1 one-way system between the Dunedin Botanical Gardens and Queens Gardens. The work involves replacement of the existing painted cycle lanes, which sit directly next to busy traffic lanes and placing ne
  • Transport for West Midlands and Whim set to pioneer MaaS in the UK
    December 16, 2016
    The West Midlands region in the UK is to pilot Mobility as Service (MaaS) to its residents. The service, Whim by Finnish MaaS operator MaaS Global, will be launched in the West Midlands metropolitan area in early 2017. The launch follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), transport service providers National Express and SilverRail, Birmingham City Council and MaaS Global. Other transport companies will be welcomed onboard the Whim service in the future. Th
  • M25 upgraded to ‘smart’ motorway
    November 10, 2014
    Road users on the vast majority of the UK’s M25 will benefit from four-lane capacity now that the final section between junctions 25 and 27 has become a smart motorway. The road has been upgraded from three to four lanes in each direction, with the hard shoulder converted for use as a permanent traffic lane and enhanced on-road technology to manage traffic flow to improve the reliability of journey times, providing a boost for businesses and the wider economy.
  • Scotland pledges 'no road deaths by 2050'
    March 5, 2021
    Scottish Government's Road Safety Framework unveils interim safety targets to 2030