Improvements will be introduced across Newham in the next three years to make cycling safer and more enjoyable after the borough was awarded almost £1million.

Newham Council secured the cash from the Mayor of London and TfL for a range of measures to encourage more residents to cycle, more safely and more often.

The council was awarded £905k from the Mayor of London’s Borough Cycling Programme. The money is for a three year period (up until 2017).

More than £17m was available to London councils and Newham Council received the second highest sum allocated to any council. Only Westminster received a higher allocation, £938,000.

The money will be used to:

• provide cycle training for residents providing them with the skills and training to cycle safely

• provide free training for drivers to minimise the risk of large vehicles on local roads

• introduce and improve cycle parking where people live, work and shop

• provide grant funding for schools to enable them to work with our young children to encourage them to cycle safely

• fund a full time post that will help deliver the programme and update our cycling strategy ensuring that these improvements are linked to the planned physical redevelopment of cycle routes across the borough.

Sir Robin Wales Mayor of Newham said: “We’re committed to making Newham a cycling borough and we’re proud of our cycling achievements so far. We already implemented a range of cycling improvements across the borough and campaigned for and secured the first fully-segregated Barclays Cycle Superhighway in London.

“This latest funding will enable us to deliver a range of initiatives that that will help make cyling even safer, easier and a more attractive mode of transport for our residents.”