Number of people cycling in Peterborough drops as group calls for improved facilities to get people peddling again

Temporary cycling lanes were installed in Peterborough during part of the COVID pandemic

A cycling group has called for better facilities for cyclists in Peterborough as new figures revealed just six per cent of people in the city are cycling at least once a week.

The data, from the National Transport Survey, shows that the percentage of people regularly getting on their bike in 2021 dropped by four percentage points from 2017, when more than 10 per cent used their bike every week.

Recently, The Peterborough Cycle Forum has called for an end to the cycling restrictions on Bridge Street – and now they have said cycling facilities in general need to improve to encourage people to leave their car behind and get on their bikes.

A spokesperson for the group said: “From national data we know that 30 per cent of people don’t currently cycle but would like to start. The main barrier to cycling is safety, both perceived and real. “

"In Peterborough the once excellent off road network built by the Development Corporation has been left to ruin. It’s poorly lit, poorly signed, the surfacing is falling apart and the vegetation is overgrown.

"The city council should be asking for funding specifically to target this - not many cities had the majority of their infrastructure built in a short time period, like we did in Peterborough.”

Along with highlighting improvements needed to the Green Wheel, infrastructure on a number of roads was highlighted as being a safety issue.

The spokesperson said: “The on road network is equally poor, and the city council need to speed up their programme of delivery. Very little has changed in the last decade for cycling in the city. Oundle Road, Thorpe Road, London Road, Lincoln Road, Dogsthorpe Road, Fulbridge Road, Fletton Avenue, Welland Road, the list goes on and on. None of these roads have safe cycling infrastructure provided.

"However, we have an opportunity, if the city council wants to take it, there is millions and millions of funding available for cycling now.

"Just earlier this summer other cities got £10m each because they had radical plans. We also have a Combined Authority sitting on tens of millions for transport, which could be spent on cycling infrastructure.”