Obese pupils given leg up as e-bikes replace pedal cycles

A COUNCIL has proposed buying a fleet of electric bikes after it said traditional pedal ones were too difficult for overweight children to use.

Conwy council was asked to matchfund £5,000 for five e-bikes, after a pilot scheme with pedal cycles that involved a school.

Council officers said there was evidence to show Conwy has one of the highest percentages of overweight boys and girls in Wales, with cycling identified as a way to tackle the problem.

A report said: “Having run a pilot scheme on a smaller scale within a local school using traditional bicycles, the evidence was clear that e-bikes can help those with weight management difficulties to engage in sport.

“Using the bike as a tool to experience the outdoors, without the e-bike they would not have the ability to ride up hills, thus making it more accessible and enjoyable.

“Other benefits include less time on video games and social media platforms. Long-term goals include making the transition on to traditional cycling and long-lasting health benefits including a lower body mass index.”

The report adds: “The project will involve allowing access to hard-to-reach children in the following categories: obese, clinically obese and morbidly obese with little interest in sport.”

In recent months, Conwy has controversially become the first council in England and Wales to have black bin collections once a month, to save money. Another £5,000 will have come from elsewhere to develop the scheme.

Conwy council is buying electric bicycles to encourage fat children to take more exercise. At first sight this wheeze resembles attempts to interest young people in classical music by staging concerts of film music in the hope that one thing will lead to another. But it need not be the fault of children in Conwy that they weigh too much, and there are plenty of hills in the borough that would deter all but the most tree-root-thighed pedallers. An odd effect of having a bike with an electric motor attached is that it tempts riders to go further and use more energy than leaving them to the unaided power of their muscles. Think, too, of how stylish, after their fashion, Solex motorised bicycles were in France in the post-war decades. Electric bikes are quieter and cleaner. Let’s hope Conwy’s bounty is taken up enthusiastically.