Shropshire Star

Funding secured for Shropshire cycling scheme

Shropshire Council has secured funding to help more children with special educational needs and disabilities take up cycling in the region.

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Cycling numbers increased last year due to the massive uptake during the pandemic.

However, children and families with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) still face barriers that prevent them from accessing the benefits of cycling.

It could be access to suitable equipment, quality training for specific health conditions or financial reasons.

The Bikeability cycle training programme, which has trained more than 3.5 million children, aims to help every child in England have the opportunity to cycle confidently and enjoy the skill for life.

The trust’s vision is to ensure more than five million children take up Bikeability cycle training by 2025.

It rolled out a £300,000 grant application to fund a series of pilot projects to increase the provision of Bikeability for children with SEND.

Shropshire Council was one of 18 successful recipients of the first round of this innovation fund and will be using its allocation of funding to train instructors using SEND training.

Inclusivity

Sam Cartlidge, instructor at Learncycling, said: “We at Learncyling are delighted to receive this funding to increase participation in cycle training among pupils with SEND in Shropshire.

"We regularly train pupils with special needs in mainstream schools and feel cycle training is an incredibly inclusive activity.

"We feel that sometimes parents feel that their child cannot participate because of a specific need and we aim to use this funding to increase awareness of the availability of specialist cycles and our inclusive delivery methods to encourage more to take part.

"Learncycling’s objective is to ensure that everyone who wants cycle training, regardless of circumstance, can access training.”

A representative of Shropshire Council added: “Shropshire Council is delighted to receive positive news that our local Bikeability cycle training provider – Learncycling has been successful in its application for the SEND innovation grant.

"This funding will enable Learncycling to build on their experience of working with children who have disabilities and additional needs by providing more one-to-one training, providing suitable adaptive cycles and upskilling instructors so they ensure that every child, regardless of circumstance, can access training and enjoy the benefits of cycling.”

Emily Cherry, executive director at the Bikeability Trust, said the information and experience these pilot projects will generate will help the trust to deliver its commitment for every child to be able to access cycle training.

For more information about the Bikeability Trust, visit bikeability.org.uk