A newly formed cycle group will fight to make Devizes a safer, and more enjoyable, place to cycle.

The county recently received £681,000 from the Department for Transport to contribute to making streets easier and safer for pedestrians and cyclists to access shops, businesses and places of work without driving or using public transport, and also help people to maintain social distancing.

So far, the funding has been directed towards cycle schemes in areas such as Chippenham, Trowbridge, Bradford on Avon, Salisbury and on a link between Hilperton to Melksham.

While Devizes did not qualify for the latest two rounds of funding, the newly-formed Cycle Friendly Devizes group is now poised to ensure this doesn’t happen a third time.

The group’s John Schofield, who is also chairman of Sustainable Devizes, explained: “The Government had asked for this chunk of money to be spent quickly in council areas. Devizes was not included this time round and I think this was due to the fact there were already cycle groups established and with plans ready to go.

“Devizes didn’t have anything like that ready to go, so that’s what we’re trying to do with Cycle Friendly Devizes, to make sure next time money is available we can have plans on the table and grab it.”

The group launched after conducting a survey in September to garner opinions from cyclists in Devizes, who had grown in number due to the number of people taking up the activity during the first lockdown.

Mr Schofield said: “The general message we got was that people are scared of cycling on the roads here. We have identified certain areas, such as London Road, with the help of responses and will be able to focus on these areas and bring them to the attention of the council moving forward.

“We want as many people to enjoy the roads here as possible.”

He added: “Cycle Friendly Devizes is part of the Transition Network, we trying to make the place more sustainable and to really embrace the idea that one day, perhaps not that far away, we might be living without fossil fuels so rather than be caught by surprise we should make the changes now and make a thriving community that can be ready for it.”

For more information go to www.sustainabledevizes.org.uk/initiatives/transport/cycling