MSP welcomes cycling bonus for Falkirk students

Falkirk High School and Grangemouth High School have both been awarded £4,000 and St Mungo’s High School £3,920, along with grants of £4,000 for Falkirk Inclusion and Wellbeing Centre and £1,267 for the Falkirk campus of Forth Valley College.

The grants will provide pool bikes, maintenance equipment and training to incorporate bike maintenance into the curriculum. The campus development grants will be used to provide cycle parking, showers and changing facilities, lockers, maps, maintenance equipment and signage.

Falkirk West MSP Michael Matheson, who is Transport Secretary, said: “This funding builds on previous rounds of the successful Cycling Friendly programme, which is making a real difference in encouraging more people to cycle.

“In terms of the potential reach, these improvement mean that more than 261,000 people will be able to take advantage of better cycling facilities where they study or work – and I’m delighted that this includes thousands of young people in Falkirk district.

“The Scottish Government is spending more than £100million a year to encourage active travel, because we recognise that walking and cycling is key to improving our air quality, our climate and our health.”

Kath Brough, head of behaviour change at Cycling Scotland, said: “By providing facilities that make it easier to cycle, we’re helping young people across Scotland make healthy and sustainable transport choices that will hopefully shape their travel behaviours for life.”