More towns and cities in England are to get a chance to bid for part of a 140 million pound investment in cycling. Among the proposals is an expansion of the Cycling Demonstration Towns project and the creation of the first demonstration city.

The package includes 110 million pounds of new money on top of the ten million already allocated to cycling promotion in each of the next three years. The plan includes up to ten new demonstration towns to build on the work of pilot schemes in Aylesbury, Brighton, Darlington, Derby, Exeter and Lancaster with Morecambe, which were set up to spread best practice. The new towns and the first large city to join the project will mean around three million more people will have access to improved cycling facilities. Bids from interested places will be sought in the Spring.

The package will also see half a million more 10-year-olds having ‘Bikeability’ cycle training by 2012 and the building of another 250 Safe Links to Schools, connecting them to the National Cycle Network. So far, some schools with links have seen a doubling of the number of pupils cycling to school. The Secretary of State for Transport, Ruth Kelly, said cycling could bring benefits to individuals in terms of fitness and to local communities as it could reduce congestion and improve local air quality.

“The results of both Bikeability and Cycle Demonstration Towns are hugely impressive and prove that by providing the right facilities and support more people are willing to get on their bikes. For example, Darlington has quadrupled the proportion of children cycling to school. Aylesbury has also seen a five-fold increase in residents using a bike as one of their two main means of transport in the last two years,” she said.

The funding package has been given to Cycling England, the body set up by Government to promote cycling, and its chairman, Phillip Darnton, said, “The bicycle really does have a role in helping meet England’s transport challenges. It is now taking its place as a proper mode of transport.”

Read more on MORE TOWNS COULD GET FUNDING TO PROMOTE CYCLING…

A local government think tank is calling on councils to sign up to its voluntary carbon trading scheme as a way of showing they can set the pace in tackling the effects of climate change. The call from the Local Government Information Unit follows the last of a series of roundtable meetings it has organised about developing a trading scheme.

At that meeting a group of local authorities met representatives from Defra who outlined details of their plans for a statutory trading scheme – the Carbon Reduction Commitment. It would see larger councils trading with private sector and other public sector bodies from 2010.

The LGiU believes these proposals for a compulsory scheme increase the importance of its own voluntary plans, which are scheduled to come into effect in April. “Councils are going to need new skills and resources if they are going to take advantage of carbon trading and use it to prioritise their work on carbon reduction,” said Gemma Roberts, policy analyst with the LGiU’s Centre for Local Sustainability.

The LGiU says it is keen now for more local authorities to get involved in its scheme and Gemma Roberts added, “By simulating all the aspects of a trading scheme, from measuring and planning through to actually buying and selling carbon, the LGiU scheme will help participants understand how trading works, but also show that local authorities can be pace setters in tackling climate change.”

Read more on COUNCILS URGED TO JOIN CARBON TRADING SCHEME…

By Amy Kates and Jay R. Galbraith

The book is a hands-on guide that provides managers with a set of practical tools to use when making organization design decisions. Based on Jay Galbraith’s widely used Star Model, the book covers the fundamentals of organisation design and offers frameworks and tools to help leaders execute their strategy. The authors address specific design challenges that confront most of today’s organisations including designing around the customer, organising across borders, solving the centralisation-and decentralisation dilemma and organising for innovation.

Read more on DESIGNING YOUR ORGANISATION…