The strategy proposes to make Derbyshire the most connected county for cycling in the country and is ambitious, whilst acknowledging current constraints.
The event was held at Derby Arena which was an ideal place to launch the plan from. It was my first visit to the arena and I was impressed.
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| The Arena is situated in Pride Park next to the IPro stadium, home of Derby County, just off NCN route 6. |
The event itself started with some demonstrations of stunt cycling and also some of the Derby Track League cyclists on the velodrome track itself before the formal part of the evening was held in the main seating area.
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| A mix of cycling styles - the trickery of stunt biking in the foreground with the speed of track cycling in the background. |
The formal part of the launch featured several speakers including representatives from somne of the key organisations who will be crucial to the success of the plan, namely Derbyshire Sport, D2N2 (the local enterprise Partnership for Derby and Nottingham), Derbyshire County Council and Derby City Council. Each speaker spoke very positively about the aims of the plan, the benefits the plan will bring economically, socially, environmentally as well as the huge health benefits (stated as £18 million per year in Derby city alone).
The speeches, like the plan itself, acknowledged the size of the task ahead and also the current restrictions due to severe government cuts. However, as is the case with all such projects, it is key to have a good strategy to maximise the chance of winning the funding bids.
The main theme of the speeches on the night was about getting " bums on bike seats!" and one of the main themes of the plan is a multi-level approach to promoting the plan, from the top of the organistations mentioned to champions at a local level. Click here to see the Derbyshire Cycling Plan webpage
As well as the speeches by members of the key organisations there was a further speech by young paracyclist Katie Toft about how cycling had benefitted her which was very inspiring. Click here to read a review of the launch in the Derby Telegraph
Once the formal part of the evening was over there was a networking session around several stands providing relevant information including organisations such as Sustrans, Derbyshire County Council, Derbyshire Police, National Forest Company, Peak District, Derby Cycling Group amongst others.
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| The building looks imposing both during the day and at night. |
It was also good to meet up with several other delegates including those from South Derbyshire District Council, Amber Valley District Council, British Cycling, Breeze and, as always, it was good to meet up with fellow Sustrans Rangers.
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| Part of the speeches mentioned how the plan aims to increase numbers partaking in cycling rather than middle aged men in lycra - in case you didn't know what that looked like...... |
Once the event had finished there was cycling entertainment provided by the Derby Track league. This was followed by a walk back to Derby Station, a train ride to Burton and a ride back home which, in parts, highlighted the need for the plan including collusion with neighbouring authorities.
I am very much looking forward to supporting this plan and hope that those reading this are too.
