DfT hails success of cycle town schemes

12 November 2009

Cycling demonstration towns have boosted bike trips by 27%, according to analysis of the original six pilots.

The Department for Transport has studied the uptake of cycling and other physical activity in the six areas of Aylesbury, Brighton & Hove, Darlington, Derby, Exeter, and Lancaster with Morecambe since they were given cycling town status in 2005.

The schemes have been hailed a success with take up in the six areas rising by 27%, a figure the DfT says proves their value beyond the national trend, which saw cycling in the UK go up by 12% from 2007 – 2008.

However, the report, written in conjunction with Cycling England, says it cannot identify which projects were particularly successful.

‘We emphatically cannot say “town X was more successful than town Y” because its programme focused on schools or workplaces or infrastructure or smart measures etc,’ states the report.

‘What we are able to conclude is that a sustained and well-designed programme of investment in cycling at about the level of £10 per head of population was sufficient, in every one of the cycling demonstration towns, to achieve an increase in cycling.’

Before the demonstration towns were launched, the average amount of money spent per head on cycling by local authorities was £1. The DfT says the findings blow away the myth that it is ‘not possible to increase cycling in the UK’.

‘The cycling demonstration towns have demonstrated, in every case, that it is possible to increase cycling, even in towns which almost completely lack a “cycling culture”,’ states the report. The analysis also suggests that the investment in the cycling demonstration towns provided good value for money. For each £1 invested the value of decreased mortality was assessed at £2.59.

In 2008, 11 new areas became cycling towns and Bristol became the first ‘cycling city’. Allan Williams policy advisor at transport charity Sustrans, said he welcomed further evidence that investment in cycling delivered clear health benefits.

‘Now the lessons from the cycling demonstration towns need to be learned across the country, by investing in measures to improve facilities and support behaviour change,’ he said.

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