Boosting UK Cycling Activity: Securing the Benefits of Safe and Accessible Cycling

25th Feb 2021 09:30 – 13:00

With the link between obesity and the severe effects of Covid-19, plus the need to encourage social distancing on mass transit, renewed emphasis has been placed on boosting the levels of cycling activity in the UK, with the Prime minster calling for “a new golden age for cycling”. Beyond Covid, commuting by cycling has a range of other health benefits including reducing the risk for conditions such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and a variety of cancers, as well as mental health and stress. It also has economic benefits, the ‘cycling economy’ being worth £2.9bn, and savings for the NHS roughly equating to £7bn over 20 years. Furthermore, it’s a low-carbon alternative to motorised transport, and can help to disperse smog in highly polluted urban environments. 

The Government has therefore set out their current policy in the publication of Gear Change: A Bold Vision for Cycling for 2020-25 which was described by the Prime Minister as the “most ambitious plans yet to boost cycling”. Some of the key policies to deliver on the ambition to double the number of journeys made by bike by 2025 include £2bn of ringfenced funding for cycling and the creation of a ‘national e-Bike programme’ – designed to enable the elderly to take up cycling. A new approach on health will also be piloted in selected places with poor health rates to encourage GPs to prescribe cycling, with patients able to access bikes through their local surgery. There will also be improvement to the National Cycle Network, increasing the number of Superhighways/Cycleways and Quietways, and efforts to make streets safer by strengthening the Highway Code to better protect pedestrians and cyclists, and raising safety standards on lorries.

For full details, click here. View this event on the EAUC website →