Annual report & accounts 2024-25

  1. Introduction
  2. Highlights
  3. Education & training
  4. Monitoring cycling, road safety and connecting people
  5. Access to bikes, cycle parking & storage
  6. Transport Planning & Engineering
  7. Organisation

Introduction

Welcome

On behalf of the Board and staff, it is a privilege to introduce Cycling Scotland’s Annual Report 2024-25, a year of change, hope and sadness. The report highlights the wide range of projects our staff and colleagues delivered, supported and evaluated during the year, working with new and different funders.

There was a further increase in local authorities delivering Bikeability Scotland on-road cycle training in every school, expanding cycling to more young people. Results from a three-year evaluation with pupils across Scotland show a clear link between training and increased cycling frequency.

Projects were delivered for five Regional Transport Partnerships, expanding access to cycle storage and bikes and helping tackle transport poverty in many areas of Scotland.

The annual conference for everyday cycling, held in Glasgow, brought together 250 people focused on the progress being made getting more people cycling more journeys and the work that has to be done on road safety.

TP&E, the social enterprise consultancy established by Cycling Scotland, specialising in the design and delivery of infrastructure for cycling, walking or wheeling, delivered great new routes despite the most uncertain funding climate of the past 15 years.

It has been a challenging year of substantial in-year funding cuts across the sector, job losses and the closure of local organisations whilst at the same time, seeing real progress with projects pursued for 10 years bearing fruit. Road safety messages and cycling data were communicated to a wider audience via the media and continued to challenge negative perceptions regarding the impact of cycling investment: long term funding has been delivering results.

At the AGM in November we said farewell to trustees Rosie Shankey, Maureen Kidd and Stuart Knowles. Thanks are due to all three for their support, to Maureen as a former Chair, to Rosie for her ongoing advice and to Stuart for his ongoing commitment to TP&E.

Finally, this year will sadly forever be the year Cycling Scotland lost our colleague Rachael Bonds, who died in October after a sudden illness. Rachael was brilliant in her data and monitoring role and made a great impression on everyone who met her. She is deeply missed by the colleagues she worked with, both in Cycling Scotland and across the sector. 

Keith Irving, Chief Executive

Professor Sally Wyke, Chair