Bike Week Sat 14th June to Sun 22nd June

NICI is encouraging members (and friends and family) to come out and ride together on a number of Bike Week Events on Sunday 15th and Sunday 22nd June. See the Events page for more details.

NICI AGM, Sat 12th April

The NICI AGM will once again be held at Place (near the rear entrance to Boots, in Fountain Street, Belfast, on Saturday 12th April at 10:30 am.

Tea and biscuits will be provided. Please come along to have your say as to how NICI is to progress.

NICI calls for greater access for cyclists in the Pedestrianised streets in Belfast City Centre.

NICI calls for greater access to for cyclists in the Pedestrianised streets in Belfast City Centre.

NICI has formally objected to a recent Planning Order banning cyclists from the Pedestrianised streets in Belfast City Centre. Following a meeting with Roads Service, NICI now understands that this is a consolidation exercise. Cycling is already banned in these streets, but the ban is not really enforced.

NICI is now working with Sustrans and Roads Service in order to have this ban lifted in at least some streets. For a list of the affected streets, click here.

NICI welcomes big rise in funding for Cycling England

NICI welcomes a big rise in funding for Cycling England. Download the Cycling Futures PDF here.

Cycling England has a budget of £10m this year. It will receive £20m next year and £60m in each of 2009–10 and 2010–11. The total three-year budget will be £140m, of which £110m is an increase in resources.

The main elements of the programme in which this money is to be invested are set
out below:

• 500,000 Year 6 children (10 year olds) will be able to take part in Bikeability cycle training by 2012, equipping them to cycle safely and responsibly
• An infrastructure programme delivering:
  1. 250 additional Links to Schools connecting 500 schools via traffic calmed or traffic free routes to the wider national cycle network. These links, which improve safety and accessibility, are also proven to increase the levels of cycling and walking and to do so both for school children and the wider population where they enable access to other facilities such as shops
  2. cycle parking and other infrastructure
• Up to 11 new demonstration areas (including a large conurbation) and possibly continued work in the existing 6 Demonstration Towns (subject to satisfactory plans from the current 6 and a bidding round for the new 11) to demonstrate visible change in a few key areas
• Doubling the number of “cycling to school” champions from 20 to around 40 who each work with a number of schools to promote cycling and maximise the benefit of other cycle programmes like Bikeability and Links to School
• Development of a number of smaller programmes to get more people cycling

NICI Congratulates Sustrans on winning the People's £50 Million Giveaway

NICI congratulates Sustrans on winning the People's £50 Million Giveaway.

Vote for Sustrans' Connect2 in the People's £50 Million Giveaway

NICI is urging its members to help Sustrans win money for a UK wide project, Connect2, which will transform local travel within 79 communities. Sustrans is competing with 3 other organisations to win a one-off grant of £50 million from the Big Lottery Fund, with the winner to be decided by public vote over the next few weeks.

By building bridges and crossings over main roads, rivers and railways, Sustrans' Connect2 will overcome many of the barriers that currently prevent people getting about more on foot and bike. The crossings will link into networks of paths, enabling pedestrians and cyclists to have direct and continuous access to local schools, shops, workplaces, green spaces, friends and family, and all those other places people want to get to in their every day lives. As many as 6 million people live within a mile of a proposed scheme, and over 1 million children attend schools within a similar distance. When complete, Connect2 schemes will carry over 60 million active, healthy, low carbon journeys a year, with a potential carbon saving of 79,000 tonnes, the equivalent of 79,000 people's car use in a year.

There are three opportunities to vote: online, by landline and by mobile. Online voting begins on 26h November at 9am on the People's Millions website with telephone voting beginning on 7th December at 9am. To be reminded when to vote, and to find out more about Connect2, visit the Sustrans website and register your details, or text Connect2 to 80010

Sustrans' Connect2 is competing with the Eden Project: The Edge; the Black Country as Urban Park; and Sherwood: The Living Legend, details of which can be found at the People's Millions website. Voting concludes at noon on 10th December, with the winner to be announced on 12th December.