£77m Cycling Campaign Announced

David Cameron has announced a new £77m campaign to encourage cycling in cities and national parks across England.

The funding will be divided between Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, Bristol, Cambridge, Oxford and Norwich.

New Forest, Peak District, South Downs and Dartmoor will each share a slice of £17m funding for national parks.

According to the government, the total new funding for cycling is £148m between now and 2015.

It said the campaign would include "a commitment from the government to cut red tape", and that councils will be expected to "up their game" to deliver the required infrastructure.

The Prime Minister David 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.

"This government wants to make it easier and safer for people who already cycle as well as encouraging far more people to take it up and business, local government, developers, road users and the transport sector all have a role to play in helping to achieve this."

Significant junction upgrades and other improvements are to be carried out at 14 locations on the trunk road network.

£5m is to be invested in upgrades this year, with a further £15m invested in 2015 to 2016.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: "We have seen a significant growth in the number of cyclists in London over the last few years. But cycling shouldn’t be confined to the capital. Today’s announcement shows we are absolutely committed to boosting cycling in cities and the countryside across the whole of England. I want to help open up cycling to more people and these measures to make cycling safer on our roads are an important part of that."

Funding will be distributed throughout the following areas:

• Greater Manchester £20m
  
  
• West Yorkshire £18.1m
  
  
• Birmingham £17m
  
  
• West of England £7.8m
  
  
• Newcastle £5.7m
  
  
• Cambridge £4.1m
  
  
• Norwich £3.7m
  
  

Oxford £0.8m

The Prime Minister has also announced funding for four national parks: the Peak District (£5m), Dartmoor (£4.4m), the South Downs (£3.8m) and the New Forest (£3.6m).

(IT/CD)