Active Travel Minister attends meeting with ACT representatives on Cycle to Work scheme
Posted on in Business News , Cycles News
Guy Opperman, the Minister for Roads and Local Transport at the Department for Transport, whose focuses among other things on cycling and active travel, has attended a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking with representatives of the Association of Cycle Traders.
Together with Andrew Goodacre, CEO of the British Independent Retailers’ Association, parent body of the ACT, and Mark James from independent cycling retailer J E James, Mr Opperman heard a question from one MP, who had been told by independent bike dealers in his constituency that the current cycle to work scheme was not working for retailers and needed reform.
Currently more than 650 businesses across the UK have signed up to an ACT campaign, the majority of which are independent retailers, calling for systemic change to the way the cycle to work scheme is administered, so that it stops penalising independent cycle retailers and builds a scheme viable for all moving forward.
ACT representatives have meetings scheduled with the Cycle to Work Alliance and Cyclescheme for further discussions in the coming weeks.
“We really do encourage ACT members to contact their local MP to express any concerns that they have about the way cycle to work scheme is operating,” says Jonathan Harrison of the ACT.
“The more MPs that are made aware the better. Moreover, if you haven’t already signed up to become part of the movement demanding change to the cycle to work scheme, we strongly ask you do so by visiting this page."
“This is about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts and the cycling retail sector coming together, working together to demand and deliver systemic change. That’s one of the benefits of being part of a trade association like the ACT, lobbying for and delivering change that will provide a positive future for independent bike dealers around the country.”
To support the ACT in this initiative and others invested in your future, you can sign up to become an ACT member from as little as £60 a year here.