More and more people are getting on their bikes, boosting their health at the same time as improving the environment, as benhealth reports.
Not since the days of the penny farthing has cycling been so high-profile – and for good reason.
There are few modes of transport more liberating for many people than getting on a bike and pedalling away, feeling the breeze as they whizz straight past fume-clogged traffic jams to get to where they need to go.
According to market research company BRMB, the last decade has seen a 40 percent rise in the number of adults getting into the saddle.
This is excellent news for independent expert body Cycling England, which was established by the Department for Transport to boost the number of cyclists across the country.
Chairman Phillip Darnton says: “In a country like the UK, where obesity is at epidemic levels among adults and young people, one of the main benefits of cycling is that people can do it as part of their normal daily activity – by cycling to work, to see friends or to the shops – rather than having to find additional time for exercise.”
In 2005, Cycling England launched its Cycling Towns programme. Under this initiative, Aylesbury, Brighton & Hove, Darlington, Derby, Exeter and Lancaster with Morecambe were given more than £7 million, as well as local match funding, over three years for projects to attract more people out of their cars and onto bicycles.
In these towns, between 2005 and 2009, cycling increased by an average of 27 per cent.
Phillip says: “Results from the first three years of the programme show that it has been a major success, with all six towns achieving their aim of getting more people cycling, more safely, more often.”
A further 2.5 million people have benefitted from the Cycling Towns programme since 2008, when Bristol was named as England’s first Cycling City, and the scheme was extended to Blackpool, Cambridge, Colchester, Chester, Leighton-Linslade, Shrewsbury, Southend, Southport, Stoke-on-Trent, Woking and York.
Cycling England has also worked with schools as part of the Bikeability scheme, a flagship programme launched in March 2007 to teach children to cycle safely and responsibly.
Children are taken through three levels, including basic skills and handling; cycling to school safely on quiet roads and handling more complicated traffic environments at level three. Children receive a Bikeability badge once each level is complete.
Cycling England believes cycling is not only a brilliant form of exercise but is also vital for wellbeing. Phillip says: “It’s vital for the health of the nation – and the health of the planet – that health and transport professionals focus on positive actions to encourage cycling, especially where a cycle journey will replace a car journey.”
This article first appeared in issue 11 of benhealth, the magazine for Benenden Healthcare members.
