Bikeability cites “hostile” media coverage as key reason for a drop in participation of child cycling proficiency scheme
Posted on in Business News , Cycles News
Bikeability has responded to a report that found participation in its child cycling proficiency scheme has fallen across parts of the Midlands, particularly in the West Midlands, and it believes “hostile” media and online coverage about cycling is making parents more reluctant to let their children take part.
The trust said that while uptake is down in several local areas, nationally the programme remains “on target to deliver Bikeability to more children than ever this year” and is close to having trained six million children since 2007.
In the West Midlands, 11 council areas are now below the national average for the share of eligible pupils receiving Bikeability, with places such as Walsall, Coventry, Dudley, Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire seeing fewer than a third of eligible children trained in 2024–25.
Bikeability chair Emily Cherry said some parents are simply afraid to let their children cycle on roads with traffic, but argued that wider public debate is also discouraging participation.
“We are also worried the discussion around cycling online and in the media is very hostile,” she told road.cc. “Putting in a cycleway isn’t ‘a war on motorists’, it’s a space to keep children safe and healthy.”
Mrs Cherry commented that polling showed that safer infrastructure would make a major difference to parental confidence and that Bikeability works best when combined with visible investment in cycling and walking routes.
The BBC has reported that the areas with the weakest Bikeability uptake also tend to have the lowest levels of cycleways and pavements, and are among those where public health bodies predict high future rates of childhood obesity.
“YouGov research found that 59 per cent of parents would feel more confident letting their children cycle if there were safe routes and cycle paths in their area,” Cherry said. “While infrastructure is vital, it is not sufficient on its own, and training, access to bikes and behaviour change programmes are all needed to support active travel for children.
“Once parents see their children complete Level 2 training, most become more positive, but in low-uptake areas these benefits are not being realised.
“There is now a training gap among some parents who did not receive cycling training themselves as children and are therefore more wary of encouraging their own children to ride.”
While stressing that the scheme is performing well overall, Bikeability said it is working in lower-uptake areas to boost participation through road safety campaigns, improving access to bicycles and promoting more positive coverage of cycling in the media.