£800,000 Grant Secured to Promote Cycling Skills Among Essex Schoolchildren

Essex County Council has secured a substantial grant of £800,000 aimed at providing vital cycle training to primary school children across the county. This funding commitment will span the next two years and has been made possible through the Bikeability Trust UK, the organization responsible for administering the national Bikeability programme on behalf of Active Travel England.Bikeability is the government’s acclaimed national cycle training initiative designed to equip young people with practical skills and the confidence to safely navigate roads on their bicycles. This essential training is conducted year-round by a team of qualified and expert instructors.

In 2023, nearly 4,000 sessions were conducted, benefiting primary school children. During the summer, over 200 young participants engaged in 42 different Bikeability courses conducted within Essex.

Councillor Tom Cunningham, Cabinet Member for Highways, Infrastructure, and Sustainable Transport, expressed his enthusiasm, saying, “A generation of young people in Essex will now have the confidence to cycle and be able to make safer, greener, and healthier travel choices thanks to this new funding. Our ambition is to ensure that no child leaves primary school in Essex without the knowledge, confidence, and opportunity to ride a bike. The Bikeability training programme will empower them with better road skills and greater travel choices within their communities.”

For further information about cycling in Essex, please visit Cycling in Essex.

Source : Essex County Council