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The Mayor of London’s office has today announced two outer London Skyrides destined for both Hillingdon and Barking and Dagenham this summer.
Kicking off with the Hillingdon event, scheduled for July 31st, the Skyride invites cyclists of all ages and abilities to make the most of closed road routes within each borough. The Barking and Dagenham ride is scheduled for August 21st.
Cyclists in Barking and Dagenham and Hillingdon were also named as two of the 13 boroughs that have received significant funding to spend on cycling improvements. Earlier this year each bid from a fund of £4million to be invested to help London’s 13 biking boroughs engage their local community in cycling, creating better cycle infrastructure and making cycling safer.
The Borough of Hillingdon intend to use its share of the biking borough funding to develop a ‘cycle hub’ at Uxbridge-West Drayton where they will deliver more cycle parking, better cycle routes and also work with local businesses to get more people cycling.
The Borough of Barking and Dagenham intend to use its biking borough funding to deliver cycling infrastructure improvements in Barking Town Centre, deliver cycle training and HGV safety events in the local area, as well as installing cycle parking and working with local businesses.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: "My cycling revolution continues and I am determined to help more residents of outer London to take to two wheels. In the last year alone we have seen a 15 per cent increase in the number of cycle trips using Transport for London’s roads. But my traffic free Sky Ride events provide a fantastic opportunity for new cyclists to get on a bike. Additionally the funding I am committing to the biking boroughs will enable them to make the physical improvements that will make cycling safer and more convenient for local people."
Research has shown that more than half of the daily journeys in the capital that could be made by bicycle are in outer London – an estimated 2.4 million journeys.
A breakdown of the £4 million worth of funding between the 13 boroughs can be found here:
Barking and Dagenham: £343,000
Bexley: £164,000
Havering: £282,500
Redbridge: £385,500
Brent: £294,500
Ealing: £286,500
Haringey: £320,500
Hillingdon: £309,000
Hounslow: £324,000
Bromley: £271,000
Croydon: £450,500
Kingston: £450,000
Merton: £155,000
