We are delighted to announce that the Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Royal Derby Hospital and other health services in the city, is enthusiastically endorsing our Space for Cycling campaign, supporting our aims to get better cycling routes and facilities across Derby to enable more people to choose to make everyday journeys by bike.
We are very grateful that our local NHS Trust recognises the benefits that Space for Cycling can bring and for Chief Executive, Gavin Boyle’s supporting comments: “Hundreds of our staff cycle to work in our hospitals each day, and it’s important that we have the proper infrastructure to support that. As a cyclist myself I know the roads in Derby can be a little scary when you’re out on your bike, so improvements to the network would be very welcome indeed. Let’s make it easier for everyone to get on their bike to travel around our city, rather than see them discouraged because they feel unwelcome on the roads.”
The Carbon and Sustainability Group at the Trust enthusiatically endorsed our campaign when it was presented to them by Andrea Shaw from their travel planning team. The Chief Executive, Gavin Boyle, uses a mixed-mode transport to get to work: bike-train-bike, so his sustainable travel credentials are high; his Brompton was tucked neatly in the corner of his office on a cold and frosty morning at the end of December, when he kindly met Ian Dent and myself to hear about the Space for Cycling campaign. We look forward to working with the NHS Trust and the City Council in the future to create more space for cycling in Derby and enable more people to get more healthy by making more everyday journeys by bike.
Exercise helps mental wellbeing as well as physical health so cycling can be an integral part of a rounded, healthy, life style. However, many people are too frightened to ride a bike on the road. We need better quality facilities to help cyclists feel safe enough to get about. Our Space for Cycling campaign urges city councillors to give cycle transport a higher priority and make policies which enable a proper cycle network to be created in Derby, one which is joined up and enables anyone to cycle anywhere more safely across the city. The support of our local NHS Trust is important to us for raising the profile of active travel with our councillors.