PUPILS from St Ives Junior School have welcomed the arrival of their new bike shed which has been provided with funding from the St Ives Low Carbon Transport Strategy, part of St Ives Town Deal.

Prior to the installation of the shed, from the Cornwall Shed Company, around five to six pupils were regularly cycling to school. This number has now risen to more than 20 pupils either cycling, scooting or skateboarding and everyone involved with the project is delighted with the positive results.

The idea for a bike shed came after a survey carried out with the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust (formerly known as Sustrans) last year showed that only a small number of children were cycling to school. Following the survey an Active Travel Group comprising pupils from all year groups was created to promote cycling and other forms of active travel.

Teacher Jenny Rehaag said: “We want to encourage as many of our children as possible to walk, cycle, scoot or skate to school rather than travelling by car.

“As well as benefiting their physical health and mental health while they are at school, developing a positive habit of using these ways of getting around rather than just jumping in a car will provide a great foundation for when they are older.”

Although there was already an area for pupils to leave their bikes on the school site, this only had enough space for up to five bikes. The new shed provides a safe, secure and covered space for up to 30 bikes as well as scooters and skateboards.

Jenny added: “After discovering that lack of a secure, sheltered place to store bikes during the school day was one of the main reasons some were choosing not to cycle, we decided to do something to address this.”

When initial bids for grant funding for a new bike shed proved unsuccessful, the group discovered that the Town Council were promoting cycling around St Ives and decided to ask them for support.

“We wrote a letter to the council explaining that we needed a place for our bikes,” said nine year old Hazel, one of the members of the Active Travel Group.

The letter was read by St Ives mayor Johnnie Wells, who is also chair of the Low Carbon Transport Strategy subgroup for the Town Deal programme.

“One of the things the Council has been doing is to promote cycling within the town” said Mr Wells. “As the Low Carbon Transport Strategy is also focusing on ways to reduce the impact of vehicles on St Ives by encouraging walking, cycling and the use of public transport, we decided to work together to see how we could support this request from the school.”

St Ives Town Deal chairman Andrew Baraganath said: “We know that the best way to promote cycling is to encourage pupils to cycle to school and so were keen to find a way in which we could increase the numbers cycling to the junior school on a regular basis.”

“Although most local people are aware of the big projects which are being supported by the Town Deal Fund, such as the Leach Pottery, St Ives Theatre, the Guildhall and the Community Orchard and Nature Reserve, not everyone knows that we are also supporting small community projects. Following discussions with the school and the Town Council, it was agreed to provide up to £15,000 from the Low Carbon Transport Strategy budget to install a new shed large enough to store up to 30 bikes.”

Dave Davies, project officer for the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust, said: “One of our main objectives is to reduce congestion around the school gate to make it more accessible for children to walk and wheel and cycle

“Studies have shown that if children are a bit more active, whether that is by walking, wheeling or cycling to school, then they arrive more ready to learn. It is also a great way for them to meet with their friends on their journey to school and also for their parents to catch up as well.”

“The new bike shed has already encouraged more children to cycle, scoot or skate to school and the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust would like to thank the mayor, Town Council and the Town Deal Board for working with the school to make it happen.”