Adult cycling initiative launched to help residents be more confident on Warwickshire's roads

A new adult cycling initiative has been launched in Warwickshire.

Warwickshire Cycle Buddies, a new initiative aimed at getting more adults cycling, launched on March 12 with a ride from St Nicholas Park to Victoria Park.

The riders who included Cllr Andrew Milton (Kenilworth Town Council and Warwick District Council) and members of Clean Air Warwickshire and Cycleways groups enjoyed the traffic-free ride along the cycle path joining the two towns.

Before the ride members of Clean Air Warwickshire and Cycleways were chatting to locals and handing out leaflets about the new initiative in St Nicholas Park and were joined by Cllr

Parminder Singh Birdi (Deputy Mayor Warwick Town Council and Warwickshire County Council).

After the ride they also gave out leaflets and spoke to Leamington locals outside the town hall with the help of Matt Western, MP for Warwick and Leamington and Cllr Susan Rasmussen, the Mayor of Leamington.

Matt Western, MP for Warwick and Leamington said: “I’m fully supportive of the Cycle Buddies scheme and its goals. We must immediately encourage take up of cycling on Warwickshire roads.

"This involves making our roads safe for cyclists and boosting the confidence of more inexperienced cyclists.

"The traffic chaos we have seen recently as a result of the Princes Drive roadworks cements the reality that too many cars are still on our roads, and air quality in the constituency – which is among the most polluted in the country – suffers as a result.”

Warwickshire Cycle Buddies is a free service that connects novice cyclists with experienced riders to help people feel more confident cycling around the local area, as well as showing them the best local cycle routes.

Warwickshire Cycle Buddies is a joint initiative between Clean Air Warwickshire, Cycleways Kenilworth, Leamington and Warwick, and Action 21.

The initial programme is funded by Warwickshire County Council’s Green Shoots Community Climate Change Fund 2021.

The idea for the initiative came from Hazel Underwood, a member of Clean Air Warwickshire. Hazel is passionate about the climate crisis, air pollution and sustainability, and came up with the idea after hearing about similar schemes being successfully run in London and Bristol.

Hazel the vice chair of Clean Air for Warwickshire said: "I’ve spoken to many friends over the past few months, many of whom say that they do not feel confident cycling around our local area.

"We have very few segregated cycle lanes at present, and whilst our group is pushing hard for the council to improve cycling facilities across Warwickshire, in the meantime it makes sense to do what we can to help get more people cycling short journeys, as it improves health, and reduces carbon emissions."

Now that the initiative has been launched, Warwickshire Cycle Buddies are looking for novice cyclists and experienced riders take part.

For more information go to: https://warwickshirecyclebuddies.co.uk/