Theres been a lot of hard work over the past year, the third of the project, and much of it happening behind the scenes. Here are just a few snippets...

The Team
Our dedicated project team is continuing to expand. We have appointed a Cycling Champions Development Officer to  work  with communities typically under-represented amongst cyclists, such as women’s groups, disability organisations, and minority ethnic communities. Each group will receive support, advice and equipment to encourage more people to take up cycling.

Cycle Training
We are developing and expanding cycle training to deliver all levels of the new National Standards. As an A* accredited centre of excellence, we aim to deliver the Bikeability National Standards scheme to all children across Derby. We now offer Bikeability level 1 to all the city's Year 5 children and Bikeavility level 2 to all Year 6 children in the city.

During 2008 we have started to deliver level 3 training to small groups of secondary school children and are working with the Fire service to deliver pre- level 1 training to Year 4 children citywide.  

As of June 2008 we are accredited to deliver National Standards instructor cycle training. This means that anybody who wants to teach others to ride to a National Standard level can attend one of our quality training courses. Click here for more details.

After School and Community Cycle Clubs
We are developing after school and community cycle clubs. During 2007 we more than tripled the number of after-school cycle clubs from 8 to 29, and by the end of the project we aim to have a cycle club at every primary school across the city. Two clubs are community based rather than at schools, allowing us to research and develop a sustainable model for the future.

Some clubs provide bikes and a coach, others you bring your own bike but all of them give the opportunity for young people to ride in a fun, safe environment, fostering links with community clubs and providing an awareness of community facilities.

Cycle Storage
We are on target to install secure cycle storage at every school in the city. During the last year we installed around 1050 cycle parking spaces in schools meaning there is now a total of 1800 spaces. This programme is supported by our LTP Safer Routes to School and Sustrans Links to Schools development, alongside work to develop School Travel Plans. We are on track to meet national targets for school travel plans, and now have plans in 67 of our 105 schools.

We have completed work on the National Cycle Network Route 66, a city ringway which brings the population within 2 miles of the National Cycle Network.

Marketing
We have developed an identity for cycling in Derby by branding Cycle Derby and developing a cohesive marketing campaign and events programme. We will review and revise all our literature and signage during the course of the project. A Derby marketing agency (Katapult) is appointed to develop a Cycle Derby brand designed to reinforce the values of adventurous, fun and safe cycling

City Cycle Forum
We have established a City Cycle Forum which meets quarterly with partners and local groups.

Monitoring and Evaluation

We have agreed a full programme of monitoring with Cycling England and Sustrans. This includes city centre, automated counts, manual counts and counts of cycles and cyclists at schools, the Colleges and University. We have also completed attitudinal surveys and are currently developing an Evaluation strategy.