Cabinet were addressed by Mr Lambourne and Mr McCarthy.

Mr Lambourne informed that research had shown that for every pound spent on cycling gave a two pound equivalent health benefit.   It had been shown that cycling could help with both mental and physical health as well as helping increase productivity of workers.  Mr Lambourne informed Cabinet how 30 years ago Holland decided to invest into cycling infrastructure that provided a cultural change towards cycling.  Without this action their cities would be clogged with traffic.

Mr Lambourne said that the Royal Borough should be spending £10 per head of population on cycling and that presently they were not near this amount.  Investment in cycling needed to come from the Government down.  A lot of people do not cycle due to poor infrastructure.  He hoped that the council would take a lead and help change residents outlook on cycling by removing obstacle to cycling.

Mr McCarthy informed that he had been part of the working group that helped produce the action plan.  There were a number of challenges in the local area such as congestion and air pollution that without more infrastructure investment would be exasperated by planned development. Currently only 3% of journeys in Maidenhead were made by bike.  Increasing cycling provided a number of benefits such as decreased congestion, reduced air pollution, increased employee productivity and decreased absenteeism.  Short journeys were more efficient by bile and the benefits would result in decreased spend on health and social care. 

Mr McCarthy informed that the Maidenhead Cycle Hub had refurbished over 600 bikes in three years, aimed to get more people cycling by providing servicing and repairs, organised rides, advice on bike routes and cycling safety.  He was pleased that Cllr D Wilson and Gordon Oliver had asked the Cycle Forum to help produce the action plan.

The Chairman thanked them for their contribution to the action plan and said he would help the Maidenhead Cycle Hub find a new location when their current site is closed due to regeneration work.   The Chairman also highlighted that it was planned to create a cycling hub of 300 secure cycling spaces at Maidenhead station that would be covered by CCTV.

The Lead Member for Highways, Transport and Windsor thanked those who had helped produce this plan.  He highlighted section 4.3 of the report that informed that an additional £5.992m of funding had been secured through the Thames Valley LEP for Maidenhead Station improvements and the Maidenhead Missing Links’ project that would help improve cycle routes and parking.  There was also a lot of investment going into local road surfacing improvements that would improve the cycling experience.  He recommended that Cabinet adopt the ten year plan. 

The Lead Member for Adult Services and Public Health thanked the speaker for what they said especially the health benefits associated with cycling.  This was a positive action plan that was important for health and adult social care.  He was pleased to see the investment in the Maidenhead station and hoped this would help increase the number of people who chose to cycle to work. 

The Maidenhead Waterways Champion, who was also the Cycle Forum Chairman, thanked everyone who had been involved with the task and finish group and Gordon Oliver.  He supported everything that had been said and encouraged Cabinet to adopt the plan.  He mentioned that the Cycle Forum had been important in producing the plan and supported their wish that the forum should continue as a sub group of the Infrastructure Overview and Scrutiny Panel when it come into existence post May 2019 local elections. 

The Lead Member for Culture and Communities supported the paper and said as her daughter cycled for the Great Britain team she was well aware of the benefits of cycling. 

The Lead Member for Children’s Services mentioned that this was a 10 year plan that can help young people develop important life skills. Page 20 of the plan highlighted the important work that was planned to be undertaken with schools and the associated benefits. She mentioned that there was a split in Windsor with 5 times more male students cycling to school than female students. She was pleased to see the Bikeability investment and reinforced the importance of sustainable transport to schools.

The Chairman went back to the reference of £10 in cycling per adult population and said that this would equate to about one million pounds per year, which the Royal Borough should be able to afford over the next ten years.  There was a lot of regeneration work planned for Maidenhead which provided an opportunity to invest in cycling infrastructure.   He mentioned that with regards to the Cycle Forum there was an opportunity for them to be an important part of the new Infrastructure Panel when cycling issues were considered.  With regards to the comments from scrutiny he said he would try and arrange a meeting with the Crown Estate as suggested.

Resolve unanimously: that Cabinet notes the report and:

i)             Adopts and approves the Cycling Action Plan for publication.