Cambridgeshire: Young Cyclists Stay Safe

12 April 2012, 06:00 | Updated: 12 April 2012, 11:54

Around 5,000 young people in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough will get professional help with their cycling skills, after an £11m grant aross the UK.

Some £200,000 is earmarked for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to ensure they'll be no cut in the number of training places for school children from last year.

As well as the £11m grants nationwide, a further £24m will be allocated by the Department for Transport over the following two years. 

Local Transport Minister Norman Baker told Heart: "Cycling brings many benefits, and as a government we are keen to encourage its uptake as a healthy and sustainable transport choice, which eases congestion and helps cut carbon. 

It is vital that the next generation of cyclists is well prepared with the skills and confidence to ride safely and well on modern roads and this funding ensures that many more thousands of children will receive the solid grounding to set them up as lifelong cyclists."

The Department for Transport's also published a report looking at the number of children cycling to school since the introduction of the Bikeability scheme five years ago, suggesting the schools that spend more years teaching cycle training, a higher proportion of children are then cycling to secondary school.