Quarter 4 has been a productive and successful quarter; all the available funding has now been dispersed. This has required working closely with delivery partners to get final applications completed, submitted and processed in a timely manner, and we were able to provide Duncan’s Cycles with a very small grant (£456.79) at the start of March to complete the funding allocation.

During March, Cycling UK were able to attend the Nestrans networking event in Huntly and another member of the team will visit Aberdeenshire in the last week of March to meet with new and existing delivery partners to gather monitoring and evaluation data and to begin conversations about CAF 2025-26. These networking opportunities are invaluable to consolidate the relationship we have with delivery partners and to lay the groundwork for the next financial year.

This project delivers against the Accessibility and Inclusion objective focusing on “access to bikes, e -bikes and cycles adapted to match user needs.”

We will provide information on the following:

• Number of organisations funded: 2 new organisations (Mamacita Foundation and Live Life Outdoors Cycle Base) and 2 organisations who received funding in previous quarters (Duncans Cycles and Newton Dee Camphill Foundation
• Number of cycles purchased/repaired: 37
• Examples of scheme types: Mamacita Foundation received funding to purchase three electric bikes to support their work in the community. Their staff and
  volunteers will use the bikes to deliver essentials, including food, to people who would otherwise not have access to these items. The electric bikes will allow them to carry a lot more and to travel greater distances than standard cycles would.

In Q3, we have worked with three organisations and dispersed £19,587: two applications to the ‘shared use’ strand and one to the ‘repairs’ strand. This was a second application for the grant recipient for the ‘repairs’ strand, Duncans Cycles, as they had spent their previous grant received in September. The two grant recipients who received funding from the ‘shared use’ strand were Huntly Development Trust, and The Bikery.

We also have an expression of interest from an organisation called Mamacita Foundation who would like to purchase cycles through the ‘individuals’ strand.

During Q3 we hosted a very successful networking and showcase event in Newton Dee at the Camphill Community who received funding for cycles in September. Cycling UK brought together partners from across the North-East and facilitated an interesting afternoon of discussions and presentations. It was a very engaging and fruitful day and a good opportunity to reflect on active travel work in Nestrans region and to identify potential new areas for collaboration.

We are continuing to make new connections in the Nestrans region, working closely with our colleagues at the Aberdeenshire Bothy and other partner organisations in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire.

This project delivers against the Accessibility and Inclusion objective focusing on “access to bikes, e -bikes and cycles adapted to match user needs.” We will provide information on the following:

• Number of organisations funded: 3
• Number of cycles purchased/repaired: 72 repairs reported, and 14 cycles purchased. Additionally, 3 cycles purchased in Q2 arrived in December.
• Examples of scheme types: The Bikery received funds to purchase e-bikes and start a new cycle hire scheme in Huntly, which will build on their existing offer and use the skills and expertise of their trained mechanics and ride leaders. Huntly Development Trust have received funds to purchase hard tail mountain bikes to create a new shared use scheme for health rides using trails in the local area and to support local people to ride who don’t have access to a bike.

Our focus in quarter 2 has been raising awareness about the fund and encouraging new applications. We have drawn on support from our colleagues at the Aberdeenshire Bothy, as well as from Nestrans to reach target audiences. In quarter 2, we have dispersed £6000 in the ‘repairs’ strand, and £2000 in the ‘recycled’ strand. We also funded one organisation in the ‘shared’ strand, and we have received two further applications in the ‘shared’ strand which we will be reviewing in Q3.

This project delivers against the Accessibility and Inclusion objective focusing on “access to bikes, e -bikes and cycles adapted to match user needs.” We will provide information on the following:

Number of organisations funded: 4 (Middlefield Community Project, Duncans Cycles, Cyclegarden and Newton Dee Camphill Community)

Number of cycles purchased/repaired: 20 cycles repaired

Examples of scheme types: We are funding Middlefield Community Project (non-profit) from the ‘repairs’ and the ‘recycled’ strands and Duncans Cycles (local independent bike shop) and Cyclegarden (sole trader) in the ‘repair’ strand. We are funding Newton Dee Camphill Community (charitable organisation that offers housing, work and opportunities for personal development for adults with learning disabilities) purchase non-standard cycles for shared use by their service users.

Since 1 April, Cycling UK have been working on creating and testing new processes and systems to enable us to manage the Cycle Access Fund effectively. This has involved reviewing existing processes (from their previous projects, Cycle Share Fund and Access Bikes), updating webforms where possible and creating new ones where needed. The fund was launched on 17th June and so far, one week later, Cycling UK have received one application from the Nestrans area.

This project delivers against the Active Workplaces objective focusing on “provision of bike (e.g., pool bikes).” We will provide information on the following:

• Number of organisations funded
• Number of cycles purchased/repaired
• Examples of scheme types

This project delivers against the Accessibility and Inclusion objective focusing on “access to bikes, e -bikes and cycles adapted to match user needs.” We will provide information on the following:

• Number of organisations funded
• Number of cycles purchased/repaired
• Examples of scheme types