£600,000 grant will help children cycle more safely

THE council has been given almost £600,000 to train more children in the borough to cycle safely.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has awarded Cheshire East Council £590, 000 for its Bikeability cycle training scheme – the modern version of the ‘Cycling Proficiency’ qualification.

The training will be delivered by Everybody Sport and Recreation, the council’s arms length company, which has already trained 12,000 children in Cheshire East over the last two years.

Andrew Kolker, chair of Trustees at Everybody Sport and Recreation, said: “Bikeability is a great way to encourage children and their families to get active and have fun on their bikes. The programme teaches vital road safety information and cycling skills, helping to reduce the number of children being injured on our roads and enabling them to enjoy cycling safely.”

The grant means the scheme can continue to run until 2020.

Councillor David Brown, deputy council leader, said: “To gain this level of funding from the Department for Transport is a tremendous achievement and reflects all the recent hard work that the leisure trust has undertaken on behalf of the council and residents, particularly young people.”

The Bikeability grant comes just weeks after Cheshire East Council was awarded £350,000 from the DfT to promote cycling and walking locally.

The Access to Employment and Skills Through Active Travel project aims to get more people on their bike and making journeys on foot or by public transport.

There are three Bikeability levels, with each level designed to help improve cycling skills, no matter what the cyclist knows already.

Levels 1, 2 and 3 take trainees on a journey from the basics of balance and control, all the way through to planning and making a journey by themselves on busier roads.

Training is usually delivered in schools, however Everybody Sport and Recreation also run a number of holiday camps throughout the year at leisure centres across Cheshire East.

To find out what training is available for your child, contact your school or Everybody Sport and Recreation via www. everybody.org.uk or email enquiries@ everybody.org.uk.