The Government's ambition for Britain to become a 'cycling nation' has been given an added boost with the introduction of £5m funding to the Bikeability Plus initiative. 

The initiative was introduced to encourage and educate families about the many benefits of safe cycling. One aspect of the campaign is to promote cycling in disadvantaged areas to children and adults who may not be otherwise cycle. 

Since the initial pilot projects were laid out last year nearly 20,000 participants have taken part in the campaign with the intention of an additional 200,000 set to be reached thanks to the funding boost. 

According to the Department for Transport the number of children cycling to school at least once a week after completing a Bikeability Plus course has more than doubled to approximately 10%. 

The new training scheme will be rolled out from September 2016 when schools will be able to offer courses to their students. 

Cycling minister Mr Robert Goodwill said: “We want Britain to become a cycling nation and Bikeability Plus will be important in getting more children cycling safely and with confidence.

“There is no better way to make sure future generations of cyclists use healthy and green transport options.”

The DfT is also supporting £114 million for eight cities in England who are ambitiously pursuing cycling infrastructure changes in order to become flagship locations for the Governments future intentions. Bristol, Cambridge, Leeds, Birmingham, Norwich, Newcastle and Oxford have all submitted their bids in order to secure the funding.