Part of an effort to encourage more cycling in the area
Southall residents celebrating getting their free bikes
May 18, 2023
Ealing Council is committing to give away over 1,000 bikes to residents of Southall over the next year.
It has already handed out 281 free cycles to children and adults in the area and has plans to distribute over 700 more. Residents are receiving not only a new bike, but also training, daily cycle rides for people of all ages and abilities.
It is part of the Let’s Ride Southall programme which was initiated when it was identified that the area had a relatively low usage of active travel. The programme, which is run in partnership with Sports England, is supported by a team of fully trained cycling ride leads and mechanics who are all Southall residents.
Some of the free bikes are brand new while others are adapted or recycled and refurbished by the West London Waste Authority.
London’s largest community cycle centre has also been set up in Southall, next to Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha. There you can borrow a bike for free and join the free daily cycle rides. For more information a timetable is available on Let’s Go Southall website. And you can book in advance by emailing activity@accteams.uk. The council is planning on creating up to four new local cycling hubs in Southall.
The leader of Ealing Council, Councillor Peter Mason and Councillor Jasbir Anand, cabinet member for thriving communities, visited Villiers High School in Southall during the school’s active travel week on 11 May to give away 10 new bikes to children and talk to them about the benefits of active travel.
Councillors Peter Mason and Jasbir Anand with a school boy who has been given a free bike
Councillor Peter Mason said, “Let’s Ride Southall is a unique programme which gives people the confidence to cycle regularly. In fact, it’s the first of its kind in London. Ealing is leading the way in active travel.”
Councillor Jasbir Anand added, “It was great to see the smiles on children’s faces when they received their new bikes. Working with our schools and young people to encourage them to get active and improve their health and wellbeing is so important to us.”
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
