Back at the beginning of May Welsh Governments Deputy Transport Minister, Lee Waters wrote to all Local Authorities asking them to rise to the challenge of putting together proposals that would transform the Welsh Transport System.

In just three weeks and many staff already placed on furloughed leave it was pleasing to hear that every single authority in Wales was able to submit an application for a share of the funding made available by the government. It shows that across Wales the desire is there from government to support cycling as a form of transport and recreation.

Some projects have already started to take place with pop up lanes emerging in Cardiff and proving popular. The Welsh Government are currently working through the influx of applications and informing councils of the decisions to unlock the funding available.

“It was particularly great to hear that support and suggestions for local schemes had been submitted from a number of local cycling groups keen to provide local knowledge and support to the applications. Online group Cycling Newport had created an online suggestion form to engage with residents, which was then provided to the local council for submission.”–Dan Coast Welsh Cycling Development Officer for South Wales

Recent data from the UK Government on transport trends during the pandemic has also shown the monumental increase in cycling over the past few months proving that the appetite for cycling with the public is greater than ever.

Earlier this week Welsh Cycling launched the Choose Cycling campaign to provide support for local people and authorities make the choice to choose cycling as the default mode of transport for short local everyday journeys.