THE NATIONAL CYCLE STRATEGY IN THE UK: TO WHAT EXTENT HAVE LOCAL AUTHORITIES ADOPTED ITS MODEL STRATEGY APPROACH?.

In 1996 the UK government announced a National Cycle Strategy (NCS) which included a model local cycle strategy. This paper reports on the findings of an ongoing research project, which seeks to evaluate the extent to which recently published local cycle strategies reflect best practice as enshrined in the model guidance. The results suggest that the level of take up of the model strategy is highly variable and ranges from authorities which adopt the model in its entirety to those that effectively ignore it. If government targets for increasing cycle use are to be achieved then it will be necessary for more local authorities to develop robust plans which are consistent with the NCS.