The government has announced that a number of UK cities will receive a portion of £94m for an investment into cycling. The cities sharing this investment will be Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, Bristol, Cambridge, Oxford and Norwich with £77m between them and the Peak District, Dartmoor, New Forest and South Downs will share £17m.
This money is to be used to improve existing cycle routes and create new ones.
Prime Minister David Cameron said "Following our success in the Olympics, the Paralympics and the Tour de France, British cycling is riding high - now we want to see cycling soar".
How the money will be divided:
- Greater Manchester £20m
- West Yorkshire £18.1m
- Birmingham £17m
- West of England £7.8m
- Newcastle £5.7m
- Peak District £5m
- Dartmoor £4.4m
- Cambridge £4.1m
- South Downs £3.8m
- Norwich £3.7m
- New Forest 3.6m
- Oxford £0.8m
With this investment outside of London, the government are hoping to emulate the popularity of cycling that has been steadily growing in the capital. Cycling in London has double in the past 10 years however, in areas outside of London this is not the case. The lack of cycling in other areas is largely due to the lack of safe cycle routes and lanes. The number of cyclist deaths are now at a 5 year high, so this investment couldn’t come at a better time. Hopefully this investment will make roads safer for cyclists and give people the encouragement they need to hop on a bike.
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