British Cycling has today confirmed that more than £2m, out of the total of £15m available through the Places to Ride fund, will be dedicated to small grant requests in order to transform facilities in communities across England.

The Places to Ride Fund is designed to provide a lasting legacy from the UCI Road World Championships, which takes place this September in Yorkshire. Larger scale, new build projects will also be funded as part of the Places to Ride programme and applications for both small and large-scale grants are being accepted until January 2021.

The programme has been made possible through a commitment from the UK Government, and will be delivered over the next three years through a unique partnership between British Cycling, Sport England and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS).

Mims Davies, Minister for Sport and Civil Society, said:

“This funding will deliver a lasting legacy from the UCI Road World Championships - whether that is supporting future Tour de France contenders, or simply encouraging more people to get on their bike.  

“By investing in community facilities up and down the country, we will use the power of cycling to help more people enjoy its benefits and get active.”

Martin Merryweather, Strategy Director of British Cycling, said:

“We’ve had some fantastic bids, big and small, since opening the Places to Ride legacy fund in November 2018, and we are actively encouraging organisations who require smaller sums of money – whether that be for cycling kit and equipment, cycle storage solutions or even improvements to existing facilities like lighting and fencing – to apply for a small-scale grant.”

“Ultimately, this legacy funding will encourage more people from a variety of backgrounds - regardless of gender, age, ability or ethnicity - to engage with cycling in all its forms and across all disciplines of cycling.”

Charles Johnston, Sport England Director of Property, continued:

“Cycling is one of the most popular activities for people in England, but we know that many people are stopped from getting on their bikes because of a lack of opportunity, equipment or traffic-free routes. If you’re a woman, disabled or from an ethnic minority background you’re less likely to ride, and we want to help change that.

“Sport England is proud to be delivering, in partnership with British Cycling, the single biggest government investment into community cycling facilities the country has seen in recent years. The small grants element of the fund will allow organisations to improve their equipment and facilities, offer more bikes or extend opening hours to give more people the chance to enjoy cycling.”

For advice and support for the Places to Ride programme, click here.

What is the small grants fund?

• Applicants can request from £1,000, up to £50,000. Advice and support for small projects can be found here

• Potential opportunities could include:

o    ‘Learn to ride’ areas or pump tracks to encourage community use and new riders;

o    Equipment – for example coaching support or technology to engage participants;

o    Bikes – for example balance / disability / BMX that widen the opportunity for people to ride;

o    Lighting of existing facilities to increase hours of use;

o    Extending / improving existing facilities

• We want to fund as many projects as possible, and therefore every applicant will need to provide some partnership funding. We recommend that this should ideally be 50% and be no lower than 25%, although applications with less partnership funding than this will still be considered

Apply to the fund online here.