British Transport Minister, Norman Baker, announced the government's plan to invest £62 million on UK's cycling infrastructure. Read on for more details.
(prHWY.com) January 31, 2013 - London, United Kingdom -- British Cycling, UK's leading cycle campaign group, has welcomed the government's £62 million investment to improve cycling infrastructure in England.
The funding which was announced recently aims to cover safety improvements, dedicated networks, and, especially, bike hubs at railway stations.
In line for the funding are the £500,000 cycle hub with changing facilities and racks at Brighton station; hubs in Redhill, Upminster, Leicester, and Nottingham; and cycle parking, hiring, and route networks in Leeds among others.
The fund is said to be part of an investment the government planned on spending for the improvement of England's cycling facilities as an attempt to cater to the country's increasing interest in such sport.
Fuelled by Team Great Britain's achievements in the 2012 Olympics, the country has garnered more than a million cyclists over the past four years, according to British Cycling.
The group has given their praise to Norman Baker, the transport minister, for increasing the country's budget for cycling infrastructure. However it fears the investment could be put to waste if it is not sustained in the future.
Martin Gibbs, British Cycling's Director for Policy and Legal Affairs, said in a statement, "We welcome this development and it's a credit to Norman Baker that he is securing this increased funding for cycling infrastructure - but what we need is long term, sustained investment and a strategy to put cycling at the heart of transport policy. The total funding package works out at less than £1 pound per head of the population."
"The Dutch spend £25 pounds per head per year and have been doing so for decades. Cycling is now part of their culture with 43% of people in Amsterdam cycling to work. We need to match that level of funding to get Britain cycling"
This means that the local authorities would need to match the money allocated for schemes in both urban and rural locations and sustain the funding to generate continual benefits.
Julian Huppert, All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group's co-chairman, implied in his statement: "This investment gives cities the opportunity to start making improvements to their streets for cyclists. It means that they can start putting in place some of the safety measures that will allow cyclists to be confident when riding through our cities and encourage more people to join them. This is a step in the right direction; now we need year-on-year investment so that eventually our cities can match the best in Europe for cyclists."
In response, Baker defended the government's plan, "If we reached Dutch levels I'd be ecstatic, but I can't see us getting there."
"What I can see is individual places in the country taking up cycling. I can see that now, with places like Cambridge. I think the message is getting out. The clear message we're getting from the government, the enthusiasm local councils are displaying, means the renaissance of cycling, which was in decline for many years, is under way. A corner has been turned. We're on the way back."
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