Cycle route improvements

The Cycle Aylesbury team has recently secured an additional £542,000 from Cycling England for further improvements to the cycle routes in Aylesbury.

The team has completed consultations on a number of schemes and works will be undertaken by the end of March to construct the 9th Gemstone cycle route, the Topaz Way, from the south east of Aylesbury to the town centre.  There will also be an extension to the Emerald Way from Fairford Leys through the employment area of Rabans Lane and the residential area of Haydon Hill. 

The announcement of extra funding coincided with the recently published report by cycling England highlighting the success of the first three years of the Cycle Demonstration Town project.  Nationally there has been an average 27% increase in cycling levels across the six towns.  The Lift Off report is available at: www.dft.gov.uk/cyclingengland and quotes the results are comparable to successful cycling towns in Europe in the early years of their development as cycling towns.  Research carried out for Cycling England suggests that the Cycling Demonstration Town programme has achieved growth rates for cycling similar to the most cycle-friendly European cities, and also matched the growth seen in London. In addition the proportion of children cycling to school either every day or once or twice a week soared by 126% in the schools where the six Cycling Demonstration Towns invested most heavily.

In 2005 Aylesbury was selected to become one of six towns to demonstrate that significant investment in cycling, equivalent to that of leading European cities, could bring about an increase in cycling levels.

Since the launch of the project, Aylesbury has received sustained funding with Cycling England investing £300,000 per year, match funded by Buckinghamshire County Council.  In 2008 Buckinghamshire County Council was successful in gaining a further three years of funding.  The emphasis of the Cycle Aylesbury project has been on better provision of well planned and targeted infrastructure, in response to resident’s comments.  The town currently has 8 Gemstone cycle routes as well as the new Bourg Bridge linking the south of the town to the town centre.

Valerie Letheren, Buckinghamshire's Cabinet Member for Transportation, said: “The results of the first three years are really encouraging.  More people are cycling in Aylesbury than ever before making use of the excellent gemstone routes.  With the combination of events, promotions, cycle training and new routes built since 2005 Aylesbury really is undergoing a cycling culture change.  With the additional half a million pounds of funding awarded from Cycling England we are going to be able to offer routes to even more people, making cycling a viable alternative to school, work and for leisure.“