Cycle City Active City 2017 is coming to Bradford

Some of Europe’s leading cycling practitioners will converge on Bradford, West Yorkshire, this May for Cycle City Active City.  Now in its fifth year, the two-day event has earned a reputation for lively presentations, stimulating debates, an exhibition covering all aspects of active travel, ‘speed learning’ sessions and city cycle tours.

This year’s event, taking place on 11-12 May, will be hosted by City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council and organised by Landor LINKS. It will take place at iconic city venues, including the Alhambra, the National Media Museum and City Park. 

West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s CityConnect team, which works to improve cycle facilities, will support the conference. Events will include presentations from high-profile individuals with expertise and influence in active travel policy, infrastructure design and delivery, behaviour change marketing, public health campaigns and place-making.

One of the topics of discussion at this year’s event will be CityConnect, the UK’s first city-to-city segregated cycle route linking Leeds and Bradford. Part of the funding for the route came from the Department for Transport’s Cycle City Ambition Grant (CCAG). The team behind CityConnect will offer details of the scheme and discuss its impact on cycling trips.

Alongside Cycle City Active City, Bradford will be hosting several cycling events this year around the three-day Tour de Yorkshire, which takes place at the end of April.

Delegates will also get the chance to ride around Bradford City Park, the award-winning public space in the city centre, which features the Mirror Pool, the largest man-made water feature in the UK.

Cllr Keith Wakefield, West Yorkshire Combined Authority transport chair, said: “Hosting Cycle City Active City in Bradford will be a great opportunity to showcase how we are supporting economic growth and job creation by developing a modern, integrated transport network for the City Region, with cycling and walking as key elements.

“Delegates from across Europe will be able to visit the 14km Cycle Superhighway connecting Bradford and Leeds city centres, the first of its kind outside London, and hear what we are doing to develop cycling and active travel to address issues such as poor health and low air quality.

“It will also be an opportunity for us to learn from our colleagues about similarly innovative schemes across Britain and Europe.” 

Cllr Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s executive member for environment sport & culture, said:  “We are delighted to be hosting the Cycle City Active City in Bradford. 2017 is going to be an exciting year for Bradford in terms of cycling with key events being Stage three of the Tour de Yorkshire starting in Bradford city centre and going through the district, the Women in Cycling Conference and now this conference and exhibition. 

“We already regularly host the cyclo-cross championships in one of our parks and our district provides fantastic opportunities for people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to get on their bikes.”

Landor’s managing director Rod Fletcher said: “We are excited to be bringing Cycle City Active City to Bradford. You can sense the city is finding a new way forward. This a particularly interesting time for our nation and international delegates to visit the city.”

Cycle City Active City