Strategy refresh 2021–23
cyclinguk.org
Cycling UK Strategy Report 2018
Our values Collaborating as one team
Enabling the movement
Getting millions cycling – Cycling UK strategy update We are one team delivering lasting change
Together we inspire, educate, and equip more people to cycle more often
Cycling UK’s strategy is being updated mid-way through its five-year run. Chair Janet Atherton OBE explains what’s changing and why.
We support each other, value the power in combining our personal qualities, expertise, and enthusiasm to drive innovation and get more people cycling.
We unite everyone in the cycling movement with a common goal of making it an activity accessible to millions more people. We partner with and learn from others. We equip, lead, educate, and inspire others to find their voice.
The last year and a half has seen huge changes in society and in the cycling landscape. Cycling UK’s current strategy, which runs until 2023, is being refreshed as a result. The ‘what’ – the core goal – remains the same: to get millions more cycling. As to why: cycling is even more relevant in a post-pandemic world. In terms of how we deliver the strategy: it will become more focussed as we build on the successes of our campaigning and behaviour change programmes.
The what
Believing in better
Cycling for all
Cycling can transform lives and communities
We enable those less likely to be able to cycle
We are the
Being brilliant experts, eager to learn more
Everyone should be able to share the joys of cycling and unlock that fun, freedom, and adventure. We believe cycling can be highly affordable, convenient, and a healthy way to travel. We want to highlight the life enhancing benefits that cycling can bring to individuals, communities, and the environment.
Equality, diversity, and inclusion is core and fundamental to our work. We push back on barriers, inspire, equip, educate, and work with others to find solutions.
We are transparent and accountable, and strive to continually improve by being open and responsive. We provide a human touch to deliver the best services with simple, efficient processes.
Imagine a country where cycling is a safe and popular mode of transport for people of all backgrounds and abilities, where air pollution is no longer poisoning our children, obesity has been eliminated, and traffic congestion is gone. This is Cycling UK’s vision. We believe that millions more people could cycle, transforming their lives and communities. Right now cycling levels remain low. Only 2% of trips are by cycle, only 12% of women cycle regularly, and only 2% of children cycle to school. And people from a BAME background or with disabilities are much less likely to cycle. Cycling UK is working to change this.
The why The pandemic has shown how important cycling is for transport and health. Cycling levels increased 400% during the first national lockdown. Thanks to our campaigning, governments invested in temporary cycling and walking infrastructure. Going forward, all the home nations have committed to provide significant funds for cycling infrastructure and initiatives. Cycling on prescription, bike repair vouchers, and public e-bike schemes all became promises in the English government’s Gear Change manifesto.
The how Since the strategy launch in 2018, Cycling UK staff and volunteers, with the support of our members, have shown what we can achieve to enable cycling for all. We’ve created 364,000 more regular cyclists through behaviour change programmes, like the Big Bike Revival, where we responded to travel restrictions by helping front line workers cycle and spotlighted new audiences through the Women’s Festival of Cycling. We’ve increased income through corporate sponsorship, grants and attracting generous donations and legacies, and we continue to secure government commitments to invest in cycling. We’ve increased membership to over 70,000 and continue to improve benefits including a new cycle insurance partnership and working on a digital transformation project which will better enable us to send members the content they most want to see.
We now want to reach out beyond the usual cycling communities to further encourage diversity in cycling. Read our Impact Report here.
page 3
Cycling UK Strategy refresh 2021–23
What’s new?
Why is our refreshed strategy so important?
Our refreshed strategy will focus on four priorities.
Enable millions more to cycle Enable cycling for all • Behaviour change interventions • Build robust evidence on efficacy • Engage non-regular cyclists and tackle barriers to cycling • Unlock diversity and inclusivity in cycling • Share content to keep people cycling
Speak up for all who cycle
Strengthen our organisation
Build sustainable membership
•Campaign on issues that impact all who cycle and for potential cyclists
• Effective internal systems and processes for staff and volunteers
• Develop vision and aims for membership development
•Use our expertise and stories to influence public and decision makers
• Secure and sustainable income
•Act both locally and across nations •Normalising cycling by tackling negative perceptions of cycling
• Digitally enabled • Consistent ways of working • Empower effective and professional staff & volunteers
• Shape membership offer and groups in line with vision • Connect membership into our strategic priorities • Secure income for the coming years
Mutually reinforcing • We’ll enable cycling for all We’ll expand our programmes to make cycling more accessible for people from all backgrounds and abilities, specifically targeting individuals and communities who don’t often ride. And we’ll push for investment for this from local authorities and governments. • We’ll speak for all who cycle. We’ll continue to campaign locally and nationally on issues that impact all existing and potential cyclists. We’ll stand up for cycling when it’s given bad press by the media. • We’ll strengthen our organisation In a volatile charitable funding landscape, we’ll work to secure stable income to deliver our mission. We’ll invest significantly in modern IT systems, to enable our staff and volunteers to work more efficiently and by using new digital tools we’ll be able to respond better to the needs of our members and beneficiaries.
page 4
• We’ll build sustainable membership Membership is at our heart. The refreshed strategy aims to review our membership programme so we can further capitalise on the increase in people cycling, involving them in our campaigns and welcoming them into our membership. We also want to continually improve your membership experience by providing more of the tailored content and activities that are relevant to you. We know we can’t do all this on our own and that’s why we’ll be working with partners in the cycling world and in local communities to bring about the change we want to see: to get millions more people cycling.
Why it’s important to me and you I started cycling relatively late in life, supported by the Fabulous Ladies cycling group in the Wirral. Cycling UK is a unique membership of new and experienced cyclists. I’ve seen how effective that membership can be, whether that’s getting someone like me riding again or adding your name to the thousands who take part in our campaigns. Your membership makes a difference to every new cyclist and helps us force the hand of government. That’s why our refreshed strategy is so important.
Imagine a country where cycling is a safe and popular mode of transport for people of all backgrounds and abilities, where air pollution is no longer poisoning our children, obesity has been eliminated, and traffic congestion is gone. This is Cycling UK’s vision. page 5
Cycling UK Strategy refresh 2021–23
How our strategy has evolved... 1
3 Grow a bigger, more diverse Improve the way we volunteer network engage with groups
Enabling cycling for all includes all our behaviour change initiatives.
Both these items fall into strengthen our organisation.
Expand our behaviour change programmes Grow a bigger, more diverse Improve the way we volunteer network engage with groups
Grow and diversify our income Develop our organisation
Enable millions more people to cycle
Attract more members and provide more opportunities for members to get involved in the cycling movement
Grow and diversify our income Develop our organisation
Attract more members and provide more opportunities for members to get involved in the cycling movement
Collaborate more
Collaborate more
2
Influence a wider range of people
Grow and diversify our income Develop our organisation
Attract more members and provide more opportunities for members to get involved in the cycling movement
Collaborate more
Collaboration will underpin all our work, in particular enabling cycling for all and speak up for all who cycle.
page 6
Influence a wider range of people
Enable millions more people to cycle
Be more responsive to the needs of different places
All our work will be responsive to different nations. We aim to strengthen our campaigning and membership across all four nations.
Be more responsive to the needs of different places
This becomes our broader campaigning objective: speak up for all who cycle.
Enable millions more to cycle
• Behaviour change interventions
Expand our behaviour change programmes
Enable millions more people to cycle
4
Enable cycling for all Grow a bigger, more diverse Improve the way we volunteer network engage with groups
Influence a wider range of people
Included in build sustainable membership.
Be more responsive to the needs of different places
Groups work to support our campaigning, community cycling work and income generation with less focus on group admin.
Volunteering re-orientated to support campaigns and community cycling.
Expand our behaviour change programmes
• Build robust evidence on efficacy • Engage non-regular cyclists and tackle barriers to cycling • Unlock diversity and inclusivity in cycling • Share content to keep people cycling
Speak up for all who cycle
Strengthen our organisation
Build sustainable membership
•Campaign on issues that impact all who cycle and for potential cyclists
• Effective internal systems and processes for staff and volunteers
• Develop vision and aims for membership development
•Use our expertise and stories to influence public and decision makers
• Secure and sustainable income
•Act both locally and across nations •Normalising cycling by tackling negative perceptions of cycling
• Digitally enabled • Consistent ways of working • Empower effective and professional staff & volunteers
• Shape membership offer and groups in line with vision • Connect membership into our strategic priorities • Secure income for the coming years
Mutually reinforcing
page 7
Cycling UK Strategy refresh 2021–23
Theory of change Cycling UK’s Theory of Change is essentially a comprehensive explanation and demonstration of how and why a desired change is expected to happen. It’s an effective tool that has been used to influence the thinking of Cycling UK’s strategic investments and objectives. It has shown where the charity can leverage change with their skills, knowledge and available resources. Increasing the percentage of people who cycle is a complex problem that has
Strategy Enable cycling for all
Volunteering
Strengthen our organisation
remained unchanged for over a decade. Our theory of change helps us to map our programmes and interventions and how these will lead to our desired goals and overall impact. It has allowed us to articulate our narrative to solving a problem and show the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts.
Outputs Behaviour change interventions that engage non-regular cyclists and tackle barriers. Helping to increase the % of project participants: . Intention to cycle more . Participants feel safe and confident to cycle for everyday journeys . Positive attitudes to cycling for everyday journeys Outcome More cycling among Cycling UK behaviour change programme participants
Outputs Use our stories and content to influence and keep people cycling
Social capital Staff, Volunteers & Members
Outputs Cycling UK events
Cycling UK equality, diversity, and inclusion commitment
Outcome More positive attitudes and support for cycling – general public and media
Impact Millions more people cycling
As the UK cycling charity, we want people regardless of age, wealth, sexuality, background and ability to be able to cycle safely, easily, and enjoyably. We’ve championed this cause for more than 140 years. We welcome all forms of cycling, protect the interests of existing and would-be cyclists, and inspire diverse communities across the United Kingdom to discover the joys of cycling. We truly believe cycling is for all. Increasing equality, diversity, and inclusion in cycling
Build sustainable membership
Outputs Campaigns Campaign on issues that impact all who cycle
Strategy Speak for all who cycle
Outputs Policy
Robust data on efficacy
page 8
Outcome Pro-cycling policies or laws or proposals adopted
When we developed our current strategy, we recognised that the profile of the cycling public in the UK is skewed towards certain demographics. Where data exists, the research shows that people from ethnically diverse backgrounds, women and people with disabilities are significantly less likely to cycle.
Our behaviour change projects work succeeds in bringing cycling to less-advantaged communities across England and Scotland. As the UK’s cycling charity, we use our voice to tackle the perceptions of cycling in the media, society and in decision makers, to make cycling inviting for all.
Our strategy to inspire a million more people to cycle is not just targeted at a million more of the current cycling audience. Our campaigning, engagement, volunteering, and behaviour change programmes are intended to inspire and support a cycling population that more closely reflects the diverse make-up of the UK. We do this by reaching out to understand all communities better, by listening and learning and by adapting our programmes to address their specific barriers.
We aim to be a champion for diversity and inclusion in our sector. We are determined that cycling in the UK means cycling is enjoyed by everybody, regardless of culture, race, religion, gender identification, age, sexual orientation, or ability. We recognise that this a big challenge shared by others with and we work in collaboration with partners across the active travel and sport and leisure community to make this change a reality.
page 9
Cycling UK Strategy refresh 2021–23
“Cycling levels increased 400% during the first national lockdown. Thanks to our campaigning, governments invested in temporary cycling and walking infrastructure.”
Increasing equality, diversity, and inclusion within Cycling UK The staff and trustees at Cycling UK are passionate about ensuring that we have an inclusive culture which welcomes staff, volunteers, trustees and members from all backgrounds. We want to do all that we can to ensure that our team and our work is as inclusive as it can be. For staff, volunteers, members and beneficiaries our commitment is that: • We will run a safe, welcoming environment that
recognises that we are all different. • We will give voice to diversity and in turn listen to it. • We will have the policies and procedures in place to
ensure that diversity is respected, and our values upheld, and commitment to address when it is not. • We will reach beyond the usual channels and
be flexible in our employment recruitment and volunteering offer to ensure we attract a diverse range of talent.
“We aim to be a champion for diversity and inclusion in our sector. We are determined that cycling in the UK means cycling is enjoyed by everybody, regardless of culture, race, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation,or ability.”
page 10
• We will have a learning culture, educating and training
our entire team on what diversity and inclusion means and why it is so important to all of us. • We will regularly turn the spotlight on ourselves
to ensure that diversity and inclusion is continually monitored and reviewed. • We will celebrate and highlight our progress in
diversity and inclusion, while challenging ourselves on our next steps. • We will ensure that our diversity and inclusion
aims are central to our work by embedding in our strategic priorities and in our organisational values.
Support Cycling UK | T: 01483 238301
cyclinguk.org Cycling UK | Parklands | Railton Road | Guildford | Surrey | GU2 9JX
Cycling UK is a trading name of Cyclists’ Touring Club (CTC) a company limited by guarantee, registered in England no: 25185. Registered as a charity in England and Wales charity no: 1147607 and in Scotland charity no: sco42541. Registered office: Parklands, Railton Road, Guildford, Surrey GU2 9JX.