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Greater Manchester Moving health initiative launched at National Cycling Centre

Greater Manchester Cycling Partnership will provide 4,000 free places on organised bike rides

A new partnership between Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and British Cycling will see the two organisations pledge over £400,000 for a range of new cycle initiatives in Greater Manchester through to March 2016. Announced at the National Cycling Centre this week, the Greater Manchester Cycling Partnership forms part of Greater Manchester Moving, a multi-agency initiative to promote physical activity.

Physical inactivity is the fourth largest cause of disease and disability in the UK, and it is estimated that it could be costing the NHS in Greater Manchester more than £35m per year. According to the Active People Survey of 2013, nearly half of adults in the area do not meet the Chief Medical Officer’s recommendations for physical activity, while a third engage in less than 30 minutes a week.

The Greater Manchester Cycling Partnership will see at least 4,000 free places made available on organised bike rides across Greater Manchester, while more experienced cyclists will be offered the chance to train as a British Cycling Ride Leader or a Breeze Champion.

Councillor Andrew Fender, Chair of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee, said:

“We’ve been working very closely with British Cycling for some time so it’s great to formalise that partnership in a way that will offer real benefits for people right across Greater Manchester.

“Cycling is already booming in the area, with TfGM investing more than £40m in over 100km of cycle routes and other infrastructure over the next three years. The partnership will help us reach out to even more people by offering fun riding opportunities that can lead to a healthy lifestyle change. Cycling is a great way to get active and the more people we can help get back in the saddle, the better.”

Greater Manchester Moving is a joint initiative which will bring together regional health, sport, transport and local government organisations in a bid to collectively tackle physical inactivity.

Yvonne Harrison, Chief Executive of GreaterSport, the charity that instigated the project said:

“Launching Greater Manchester Moving signifies the start of a movement to increase levels of physical activity and sport among the people of Greater Manchester. Partners have committed to a collaborative way of working to influence people’s behaviour at pace and scale to help improve the quality of life for our residents.”

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8 comments

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vonhelmet | 8 years ago
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I'd like a decent route in from the North West, if we're asking... The double roundabout in Worsley with junction 13 of the M60 is horrendous. It's the main thing putting me off riding into town for work.

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pauldavies83 replied to vonhelmet | 8 years ago
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The Roe Green loop line is passable on a road bike, and avoids that roundabout. The bit around Walkden station is gravelly but I do it regularly on 23mm tyres, but the rest is a good surface. Or coming from Tyldsley way, its pretty muddy up to the East Lancs but again just about passable.

http://madcyclelanesofmanchester.blogspot.co.uk/p/tyldesley-roe-green-lo...

Not exactly decent, direct infrastructure, but at least its scenic and gives a bit of shelter from the rain  1

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vonhelmet replied to pauldavies83 | 8 years ago
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pauldavies83 wrote:

The Roe Green loop line is passable on a road bike, and avoids that roundabout. The bit around Walkden station is gravelly but I do it regularly on 23mm tyres, but the rest is a good surface. Or coming from Tyldsley way, its pretty muddy up to the East Lancs but again just about passable.

http://madcyclelanesofmanchester.blogspot.co.uk/p/tyldesley-roe-green-lo...

Not exactly decent, direct infrastructure, but at least its scenic and gives a bit of shelter from the rain  1

Yeah, I tried that path, but the bit connecting the Roe Green bit to Ellenbrook was closed off. I'll have to have another look at it sometime.

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pauldavies83 replied to vonhelmet | 8 years ago
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vonhelmet wrote:

Yeah, I tried that path, but the bit connecting the Roe Green bit to Ellenbrook was closed off. I'll have to have another look at it sometime.

Was closed for resurfacing earlier in the year - the new surface now it's open is great  1

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Andy G | 8 years ago
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Those routes to/from the inner ring road are poor and cycling within the city centre is awful what provision there was has just about been obliterated by all of the roadworks.

Is this new project anything other than a few places on the likes of sky rides?

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farrell replied to Andy G | 8 years ago
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Andy G wrote:

Is this new project anything other than a few places on the likes of sky rides?

Highly unlikely to be anything other more than that, except for a few spills of green paint, a squandering of money, some flashy campaigns and then out with a whimper.

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Manchestercyclist | 8 years ago
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They cna start by connecting the routes into the City centre. It's relatively safe to get from to the inner ring road but within the ring road there are far too few safe routes.

Only a fairly confident cyclist is prepared to ride in the city centre, the sooner Portland street and Deansgate have segregated cycle lanes the better.

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HarrogateSpa | 8 years ago
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The more people who ride bikes, the more pressure there will be to give them safe places to use them, so this kind of initiative is helpful.

However, the most important things, in my opinion, are to get the infrastructure right (building quality, joined up routes), and to have and enforce the right rules of the road.

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