Government responds to cycling report
A response to the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group's 'Get Britain cycling' report has been published.
The government is determined to help more people take up cycling, said Local Transport Minister Norman Baker. He visited Cambridge to launch the response to the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group’s report Get Britain cycling (PDF, 6MB) and to see first hand how funding for cycling announced earlier this month will pave the way for more cycling in the area.
Norman Baker said:
The coalition government takes cycling very seriously and we are committed to leading the country in getting more people cycling, more safely, more often.
Many of the recommendations put forward by the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group mirror those that we are already taking forward so we are ahead on some of the challenges which have been set for us.
However we are keen to go further and faster.The £94 million announced by the Prime Minister earlier this month is an excellent boost and will help to encourage even more people to take to 2 wheels.
The publication of the government’s response to the APPCG’s report follows the biggest ever single injection of cash for cycling, announced earlier this month. £77 million will be divided between Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, Bristol, Cambridge, Oxford and Norwich, while the New Forest, Peak District, South Downs and Dartmoor will each share a slice of £17 million funding for national parks. With local contributions, the total new funding for cycling is £148 million between now and 2015.
This means that these 8 cities are now receiving investment in excess of £10 of funding per head, per year – one of the key recommendations made by the APPCG and is a further sign of the government’s commitment to investing in cycling as a measure for building a stronger economy and fairer society.
The government is also taking action to ensure that roads are ‘cycle proofed’, starting with £5 million of investment to facilitate safe cycling on trunk roads, with a further £15 million planned for 2015 to 2016.
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