The National Cycling Strategy Board has proposed a two-tier structure to deliver more cycling in England. On element would be an English Cycling Resources Board to bring about ‘cross-department support for cycling and a wider range of funding for projects’. The other would be called Cycling England, with an annual budget to promote cycling as an alternative to short car trips.

The NCSB recognises the poor progress in promoting cycling because of ‘unclear’ support from ministers and officials in the Department for Transport. According to its chair, Philip Dainton, ‘The DfT must unequivocally establish one departmental agenda – more people cycling, more safely, more often.

‘For too long it has been easy for those who do not wish to promote increased cycle use to hide behind the apparently "mixed messages" of different divisions of the Department, especially in relation to safety.’

There is concern that, when the present contract for the English Regions Cycling Development Team (ERCDT) expires at the end of May, there will be a loss of experience and skills, coupled with the difficulties created by further change in the mechanisms to deliver cycling development.

The ERCDT has played a role in England in improving knowledge about local cycling and in giving advice on training, infrastructure design and public health. However, the Department for Transport says that the current composition ‘would not provide a sufficiently flexible arrangement to meet the needs of cycling beyond May and would not represent good value for money.’

Local Transport Plans in England