Why you should get on your bike in Tameside

In her Reporter column this week, Tameside Council's Executive Leader, Cllr Brenda Warrington, explains how recent projects will help make walking and cycling the natural choice for moving around the borough.

Mont Ventoux, Alpe d’Huez, Passo dello Stelvio. These are some of the most iconic cycling courses in Europe.

Maybe in a few years, we’ll be able to put Werneth Low in that esteemed company as well.

That’s because the Tour of Britain, the UK’s most prestigious cycling competition, came to Tameside last week. 

The eight day event saw some of the world’s most decorated cyclists compete on a number of courses across the UK. However, the final stage took place right here in Manchester on Saturday, passing through Hyde, Stalybridge and Millbrook at around midday. It was a golden opportunity to showcase Tameside, and it was incredible to see so many residents, community groups, schools and businesses turn up to attend and celebrate the day. 

Home and business owners living on the route came up with ways to decorate it with hanging baskets, planters, painted bicycles and buntings.

Not that this was the end of the cycling festivities in Tameside last weekend. The day after the Tour of Britain wrapped up in Manchester, Stalybridge held the first ever Tameside Bicycle Festival. Seasoned pedal-heads joined with people just beginning to think about taking up cycling at Armentieres Square to have a go at an obstacle course, see some wheel art, and get hints and tips about cycling from a panel of invited experts.

But our work to promote cycling in Tameside is going much further than one weekend in September. At the end of last year we announced plans for the construction of 81 miles of new cycling and walking routes in Tameside as part of the ambitious Greater Manchester-wide “Bee Network”, by far the largest project of its kind in the whole country. At the end of last month we also celebrated the opening up of a new access ramp to the canal towpath in Guide Bridge making it easier for residents to enjoy traffic-free transport into Tameside and Manchester.

These projects and many more will all bring us closer to the goal of making walking and cycling the natural choice for moving around in Tameside. We’re bringing together the interest created by the Tour of Britain and the Tameside Bicycle Festival, with the infrastructure to help turn that interest into practical action. The benefits for our health in terms of increasing physical activity and reducing air pollution will be astonishing. I’m looking forward to getting to work on it.