Agenda item

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1.    Relevant Background Information

         Members will be aware that the Council has been leading on the development and implementation of the Active Belfast approach, as part of the Belfast Strategic Partnerships work to address inequalities within the city.

         The Active Belfast approach is also a key strand of the Council’s Leisure Transformation Programme, providing significant opportunities to work collaboratively with a range of partners, with the outcome of improving the health and wellbeing of people in Belfast.

         A key area of work within the Active Belfast approach has been to support the development of ‘every day activities’, which encourage increased levels of physical activity, while being simple to incorporate into daily routines, activities such as walking and cycling.

         The introduction of the Belfast Public Bike Share scheme represents an opportunity to build on this work, by addressing some of the practical barriers to cycling within the city, including bike ownership and knowledge of bike maintenance.

         However, to unlock the full potential of the Belfast Public Bike Share scheme, and to reach individuals who currently cycle infrequently or consider cycling but do not, action is required on other key barriers, such as cycling skills, confidence and route knowledge.

2.      Key Issues

·        The main barrier preventing people from cycling is the ‘subjective safety’ problem; the perception that our roads are too dangerous, largely due to the volume and speed of motor traffic. This view is significantly higher with females, who currently only make up 1 in every 6 cyclists on the road.

·        For any enhancement of the cycling infrastructure to be successful, it has to be accompanied by training, information and education programmes. The provision of adequate cycle training is vital to encourage greater uptake of cycling. Training helps to develop cycling skills and confidence, but also supports the development of responsible on-road cycling.

·        The Department for Regional Development have agreed to meet the full amount of the capital costs for the Belfast Public Bike Share scheme, £1,140,000. There is no provision for revenue costs including the cost of cycle training.

·        Stakeholder consultation on the Belfast Public Bike Share scheme has highlighted cycle training as essential in supporting individuals who lack of the confidence or skills to cycle on the streets of Belfast, to sign up to the scheme.

·        Active Belfast is currently supporting the Public Health Agency in the development and implementation of an Active Travel (walking and cycling) Workplaces programme, focusing on a small number of large city centre workplaces. There is scope to extend the cycling element of this work to other employers within the area covered by the Belfast Public Bike Share scheme.

·        Through the ‘Support for Sport’ scheme, Council provide funding towards training and education programmes around the areas of sport and physical activity. The aim of this work is to enable more people to become active. Currently, there is an under allocation within this scheme, following two separate calls for applications.

·        It is proposed that the Committee agree to the re-allocation of £20,000 from within the current Support for Sport revenue budget, to the Active Belfast Partnership, to provide cycle training and education programmes, which will support the implementation of the Belfast Public Bike Share scheme.

3.      Resource Implications

         Financial

         The provision of £20,000 from the Support for Sport scheme to the Active Belfast Partnership, to support the Belfast Public Bike Share scheme. This represents a re-allocation of provision within existing revenue budgets.

         Human Resources

         There are no human resources implications.

Asset and Other Implications

         None.

4.      Equality Implications

         None

5.      Recommendation

         It is recommended that Committee note the content of the report and agree to the provision of funding to the work of the Active Belfast Partnership, as outlined in the report.”

            The Committee adopted the recommendation.