Phillip Darnton OBE

Chair of The Association of Bikeability Schemes (via email)

Department for Transport

Great Minster House

33 Horseferry Road

London

SW1P 4DR

Tel: 0300 330 3000

Web Site:

26August 2016

Dear Phillip,

Thank you for your letter of 18 August regarding the Bikeability grant allocations. I understand the frustrations and problems that came with the delays in making grant allocations. Wehave worked hard to get this information out as soon as wepossibly could,but with a new administration coming into place, following a purdah period in the run up to the EU referendum, delays were unfortunately inevitable. DfT will of course look to do what we can within our control to make sure that future announcements are not delayed.

Due to the success of Bikeability, demand for cycle training nationally has increased significantly. In total we received demand of £63 million, in comparison to £40 million of training grants available for training during this period. This meant that we could not possibly meet all requests for training places. We have taken care to ensure the best possible use of funding to meet our priorities for the Bikeability programme. This meant that some areas received an increase in funding whilst others a decrease.We have been transparent about the criteria for allocation funding and I know you were supportive of this.

Schemes may reallocate funding from Bikeability Plus modules to support the core programme. They may do this by submitting a grant amendment request form to . Schemes should be aware that we may bear this in mind when making future allocations for Bikeability Plus modules, however exactly how this will influence future allocations has not yet been decided.

The Bikeability Support Teamhave reviewed the delivery data from 15-16 to dateand we have been able to identifya small amount of returned funds which can be reallocated to those areas that are able to deliver more training places. We have written to grant recipients today setting out how to apply for this funding.DfT will of course look to work with TABS to look to find ways to boost delivery of Bikeability training.

I hope this helps to provide some reassurance on the Government’s commitment to Bikeability and I look forward to working further with yourself and TABS in continuing to make Bikeability a success.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Mace

Head of Bikeability, Sustainable & Accessible Travel, Department for Transport