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30 Nov 2022

Cycling in London has increased by 40% since the start of the pandemic, including a near-doubling of journeys by bike at the weekend, according to the newly published annual Travel in London...

29 Nov 2022

The Business Secretary, Grant Shapps, has announced that businesses are to be given a further two years to apply new product safety marking.

29 Nov 2022

A new survey of 2,000 British cyclists, which is part of a wider European report, claims that only just over a quarter of people in the UK think their local cycling infrastructure has improved...

28 Nov 2022

VOLT announces its new insurance collaboration with LAKA, three-time winners of the Best Cycle Insurance Provider category at the Insurance Choice Awards and pioneers of the ‘collective...

24 Nov 2022

According to a new survey, Cambridge is the best in the country for independent shopping to support small businesses. The study found that many of the city's small businesses turned out to be...

22 Nov 2022

Groups of independent retailers in York are to receive a £25,000 funding boost to help with promotion during the Christmas trading period and to attract more customers in 2023.

22 Nov 2022

The IRC has joined bira and other retail trade associations in backing the ‘Colour Friday’ alternative to this week’s Black Friday sales.

21 Nov 2022

Shop owners in Earlsfield, Wandsworth are teaming up in the run-up to keep the high street busy in the run-up to Christmas. With the cost-of-living crisis affecting independent shops, the...

21 Nov 2022

During this festive period, V12 want to increase the support available to you and your customers. From this Friday their Customer Services, Underwriting and Validations teams will be operating...

18 Nov 2022

Dave Wilsher ex-ACT Director wins Family Business of the Year at the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce awards.

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Government accused of not consulting cycling bodies over National Trail overhaul plan

Posted on in Business News , Cycles News , Outdoor News

The Government has been accused of failing in its duty to contact statutory consultees within the cycling and equestrian sectors as part of a significant national trail overhaul plan.

Cycling UK, alongside the British Horse Society, have now written a joint letter to Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Ranil Jawawardena, calling on the Government to reconsider proposals that would effectively prevent people cycling or horse-riding along the length of England’s next National Trail, the Wainwright Coast to Coast.

Cycling UK says the oversight on the project, which is significant enough to command a £5.6 million overhaul budget, is cause for concern.

Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK’s head of campaigns said: “The Wainwright path is a fantastic attraction for the north of England, and it’s great news the Government wants it to be a National Trail.

National Trail

“There’s so much to celebrate about the new trail’s aims to increase opportunities for people to experience the outdoors, but what is frustrating is the tunnel vision automatically excluding specific groups like people cycling or horse riding, that is also contrary to government policy on outdoor access.

“If you ride a bike or a horse, you can use only 22% of England’s rights of way network or ride two out of 16 of our National Trails. We need to do more to increase access, not limit it. The benefits are real for rural hospitality businesses, which will see increased trade from a more diverse group of visitors.”

Set to become a National Trail by 2025, the route spans 197 miles, stretching St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hoods Way in North York Moors National Park. At the present time the route combines footpaths unsuitable for bike riders and horses and bridleways which are more welcoming to cyclists.

The Government’s oversight runs contrary to a recommendation made in the 2019 Glover Report, which was used to inform the Government’s Landscapes review, advising how to make national landscapes more open to everyone.

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