News Shorts and Other Busyness

Cyclists Win The Plottery

Squall 11, Autumn 1995, pg. 16.

A National cycle network covering Britain and Northern Ireland is to be created thanks to a £42.5 million cash handout from the National Plottery.

Sustrans, the voluntary organisation who applied for the lolly, expect to complete the 6,500 mile network by 2005.

Half the network, which will stretch from Inverness to Dover, will consist of cycle pathways on disused railways, canal tow paths and bridleways. The rest will use existing roads, mainly minor ones.

The grant is seen by cycling groups as acceptance of the bicycle as a viable form of transport.

David Collins, chairman of Sustrans, said: “This is a great day for cycling. The very existence of the network will lead to the creation of thousands of miles of other routes which will be linked into the network.”

Sustrans was started by an engineer called John Grimshaw in 1980. Its volunteers have created over 300 miles of dedicated cycle paths, and 300 miles of cycle routes on existing roads, on a meagre income.

Previous Plottery handouts have gone to the Royal National Opera House and Churchill’s war time paperwork.