A "notable failure" by councils for not securing government funding has led to a drop in cyclists, says a bike action group leader.

Sports England data shows just 10.2 per cent of people in Worcester were cycling at least once a month in the year to November 2022 – a fall from 16.9 per cent in 2019.

Dan Brothwell, of Bike Worcester, said the city needs to shift its focus to the needs of people, and away from the needs of cars.

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He said: "If we take the Sport England survey at face value, this should be seen as a notable failure by the city and county council to not take advantage of the increase in walking and cycling seen in the city during the covid lockdowns.

"Central government funding was made available specifically for this, but the county failed to secure its full allocation, due to the inadequacy of its bids.

"Central government has a target of 50 per cent of urban journeys to be by walking or cycling by 2030, but little is being done to enable and encourage residents to make the shift from cars to bikes."

However, councillor Mike Rouse, cabinet member with responsibility for highways and travel at Worcestershire County Council, said the council is making good progress with active travel.

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He said: "In Worcester, the drop is just 1.7 per cent amongst those who were cycling once-a-week but increases to 6.7 per cent amongst less frequent cyclists.

"That's not too surprising given the data is compared to 2019 before the pandemic that has changed travel patterns and routines for everyone.

"Whilst we did see an increase in leisure cycling whilst people were on lockdown it sadly hasn't stuck, and we now find ourselves with 2 million more vehicles on the UK's roads than before the pandemic. 

"The county council is making good progress, and I would point to our new Active Travel Stakeholder Forum as just one of the ways we are engaging with the walking, cycling and wheeling community.

"We have also secured some funding from Active Travel England and are working with them ahead of an expected reassessment in October.

"This is in addition to more crossings and, of course, walking and cycling bridges."

Worcester City Council declined to comment as they are in a pre-election period.