Thousands of Birmingham children will learn to Bike Right
Thanks to a new partnership between Birmingham City Council and cycle training provider Bike Right, thousands of Birmingham children will receive Bikeability cycle training over the next 4 years through funding provided by Active Travel England and managed by The BIkeability Trust.
Bike Right have been awarded a contract to provide the training in primary and secondary schools to over 8,000 children a year across Hall Green, Selly Oak, Edgbaston, Northfield, Ladywood and Perry Barr.
Commenting on the training, Cycling Projects Specialist at Birmingham City Council, Beccy Marston said: “After a competitive bidding process we selected three experienced suppliers to deliver Bikeability across the city, with Bike Right awarded the contract to deliver in 3 of the allotted 5 constituency areas. Providing access to bikes and their inclusive ‘opt-out-one-day’ model of training will encourage greater participation from children of all backgrounds and abilities.
“Providing this valuable life skill at a formative age is vital to our aims of improving the lives of communities by encouraging physical activity and sustainable travel. The scheme will also create new jobs by upskilling people from local communities to become cycle instructors. Bikeablity supports our Birmingham Transport Plan, Healthy Streets and Road Harm Reduction Commitments.”
Bike Right MD David Showell, commented: “We’re delighted to be expanding our reach in the West Midlands with this fantastic opportunity to work with schools in Birmingham. We started work in April and we’ll be employing lots of new instructors and really hope that this contract will be a foundation for a long-term relationship with the city council.
“What’s more, we have a brand new fleet of bikes and helmets to support this work in Birmingham thanks to funding from the Bikeability Trust.
Asghar Ali, year 6 teacher at Ladypool primary had this to say after their first training session: “The instructors have been great. The children really engaged with them. The children who were on learn to ride came back full of confidence in being able to ride. The other children taking part in the Level 2 sessions really enjoyed being out on the road. This new model of one day per group is really good. Less disruptive for us as a school and beneficial for the pupils.”