Exeter
Devon is a natural playground and Exeter sits at its heart, surrounded by estuaries, coasts, forests and moorland. Exeter already had a network of around 50 kilometres of cycle routes when it became a Cycling Demonstration Town in 2005, but Devon County Council created a further 16 kilometres in its first 18 months as a Cycling Town. With routes progressing well, the town has been encouraging cycling take-up among children, students and workers.
The 2008-11 programme has extended the project boundaries into the Exeter sub-region, to create links to outlying communities and take advantage of the leisure opportunities that exist within Exeter’s rural hinterland.
Since 2008, Exeter has put in place a number of infrastructure improvements, including new links to schools, a new stretch of shared-use path to improve access to the city centre, and new paths and crossings to create links to West Exe College and local business parks.
Not forgetting the health benefits that cycling brings, the team introduced ‘Cycle to Your Heart’s Content’ – a group adult cycling course – in Exeter and Exmouth, with support from the Devon Primary Care Trust (PCT). The course emphasises the fitness and health benefits of getting back on your bike, and is aimed at those who live, work or study in the Exeter or Exe Estuary area. ‘Strictly Come Cycling’ is a follow up activity to ‘Cycle to your Heart’s Content’ and these guided leisure rides around Exeter are aimed at graduates of ‘Cycle to Your Heart’s Content.’
In 2009 Cycle Exeter, in partnership with Devon County Council, was accredited as an Instructor Training Centre and has trained nearly a hundred people to deliver Bikeability throughout Devon and the South West. Since the start of the Cycle Exeter project almost 5,000 children have received Bikeability training. In 2009 Bikeability training was rolled out to schools along the Exe Estuary, and a new partnership with Exeter School Sports Partnership now ensures more children are trained in the Exeter region. This has contributed to 20 per cent of children now regularly cycling to school.
In addition to running Bikeability courses, cycling continues to be promoted within Exeter’s schools, predominantly through the Bike It programme. In line with the extension of the project’s boundaries, Bike It now also operates in Exmouth, initially targeting Year 7 students at Exmouth Community College where there are nearly 2,500 students in total. The five secondary schools in Exeter, a focal point of the original project targets, continue to receive close support from Cycle Exeter to maintain the momentum for cycling. Excellent links have been made with the School Sports Partnership, to incorporate cycling wherever possible through the curriculum.
Exeter University students have the highest car ownership of any University town in the country and, as such, Cycle Exeter has put an increased focus on promoting and supporting cycling to and around the campuses, by developing a Cycling Strategy for the University of Exeter. This comprehensive report has been endorsed by the University at a senior level and excellent progress has been made to implement the measures within it.
Cycle Exeter has also implemented cycle parking facilities across the city. Sites include schools (where the capacity for parked bikes has doubled at three secondary schools to cope with greater demand as a result of the increase in children cycling), the University of Exeter, The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, numerous workplaces, two health centres, and a church, which had its new shelter blessed.
Progress is continuing with the Exe Estuary Trail, which will provide a traffic-free walking and cycling route from Exeter along both sides of the estuary to Dawlish and Exmouth. Other infrastructure priorities include creating a link between the villages of Lympstone and Exton on the Exe Estuary Trail and the completion of a safe cycle crossing over the M5 to link a major employment site and the village of Clyst St Mary to the Exeter Cycle Network. In order to link two major hubs of employment in Exeter, work will also be carried out on the Rydon Lane cycle route at the Middlemoor roundabout – aiming to create a continuous off-road route, parallel to Exeter’s outer ring road.
A new promotional strategy was launched during summer 2009, creating a brand and identity for the Cycle Exeter project. The ‘Freedom of Your City’ campaign includes a pledge aimed at getting both individuals and companies to sign up. An award scheme will also be offered to workplaces who adopt measures from the Bicycle User Group workplace toolkits created and hosted online by Cycle Exeter.
To serve commuters and tourists, station enhancement schemes for Exeter St Davids and Exeter central stations are planned in 2010, with cycling fully integrated into these schemes. Meanwhile, completion of a shared use link parallel to the strategic corridor of Bonhay Road will improve linkages between the City Centre and Exeter St David’s station.
Visit www.cycleexeter.org.uk for more information.
