Active Travel: promoting walking, wheeling & cycling in Oxfordshire

Active Oxfordshire is delighted to be working with local communities and partner organisations to help increase rates of walking, wheeling and cycling in areas of greatest need across the county.

We are proud to work together with Oxfordshire County Council, community groups and residents to make a sustainable difference to increasing active travel and creating healthier neighbourhoods. We have previously worked with Oxfordshire County Council to support the delivery of Community Activation in Witney, Bicester West and Oxford.

In November 2023, we are launching a three year Community Outreach Active Travel Fund to increase active travel rates further across the county, funded by Oxfordshire County Council.

We will focus on priority neighbourhoods and market towns, ensuring that we reach areas of most need. Our focus on Community Activation is essential to ensure that we are working with partners to reach people living in priority areas, as well as ensuring that increases in Active Travel are driven by the communities themselves and can create long term change.

During 2022-2023, thanks to funding from Oxfordshire County Council, we were able to commission a range of community based active travel projects across the county. Projects included a mentoring and training pathway for female and non-binary mechanics through Broken Spoke Bike Co-op; training for Breeze Ride Leaders in Cherwell; intergenerational street play project with Oxfordshire Play Association and much more.

Created by Dr Dianne Regisford, Black Women Bike brings together African Diaspora community leaders to explore why over 90% of black women do not bike, support leaders to learn how to ride and create a culture of cycling and better health. Thanks to Active Travel funding, community leaders received a bicycle, locks, lights, helmets and tuition. In addition, they took part in a Mechanics 101 course with Broken Spoke and met weekly at Blackbird Leys Community Centre. To ensure that the women could cycle in culturally appropriate clothing, one of the participants produced clothing that could be worn whilst cycling. The women now ride weekly in Blackbird Leys and Abingdon, with plans to provide training for cycle leaders to inspire other women to learn to ride.

Witney:

• 79 children have benefited from bike clubs and tuition to date. Of these children there were 44 Boys and 35 Girls. 60% of the children are in receipt of benefits/eligible for Free School Meals.
• 59 residents have been engaged in the new Street Tag Cogges Café Loyalty scheme & accessing the new Cogges Polytag
• Six vulnerable residents who have been on the shielding list took part in the first Tea, Talk and Walk session on 26th August

Bicester:

• Six residents have accessed the FAST Family Bike Scheme to date; three adults & three children, all of whom who are eligible for the FAST scheme which targets those from areas of disadvantage in Bicester
• 12 women have been trained as Breeze Ride Leaders and can now lead female group rides
• 15 teachers or Youth Activators have been trained by British Cycling
• 14 women have taken part in Breeze Rides in Bicester to date

Oxford:

• 20 adults accessed the first Dr Bike session offered by Cyclox with a gender breakdown of 17 women & 3 men
• 1850 Adventure Maps were provided to school children in Cowley, Temple Cowley, Florence Park, Littlemore and Rose Hill immediately before Summer holidays began
• 8000 walkability/ neighbourhood maps were provided to households in and around Low Traffic Neighbourhood areas

Parent of child from Witney who benefited from bike clubs and tuition from Windrush Bike Project