Cycling Citizens MK in collaboration with MK City Council and the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE) are conducting a two-year project. The project aims to establish what role cycle-speed vehicles could play in a sustainable Milton Keynes of the future shaped by the people of MK and to understand how the cycling environment could be more inclusive.

To assit with the research we are looking for photos or drawings that illustrate what helps or prevents:

“Milton Keynes feels like a safe, convenient and comfortable place to cycle (or ride a scooter) for me, my family, friends, neighbours and colleagues on the journeys we want to make.” 

Please send any images with a brief comment of what they illustrate to our lead researcher, Dr Jonathan Flower: jonathan.flower@uwe.ac.uk by the end of October 2025.

Cycle any time this September and you can win prizes from Love To Ride.

Register here and you’ll collect points for every ride, every mile and every colleague you encourage to cycle too. Say which company you work for and the company can win awards too.

You can use these posters, flyers and email templates, to encourage colleagues.

See current leaderboard.

Awards will be presented by the Mayor of Milton Keynes:

• Top Cycling Company and Top Riders (most cycle trips)
• Top Cycling Company and Top Riders (most miles)
• Top Cycling Encouragers
• Most Increased Cycling Company (compared with May 2025).

Prizes include vouchers for cycling accessories donated by Madison Cycles, shopping vouchers and champagne donated by John Lewis.

Awards will also be made to MK schools in the same categories.

See results from Bike Month May 2025.

On 21st July, seven children from Cold Harbour Primary School went to Civic Offices for a meeting with Murray Woodburn, Head of Traffic and Transport. They received a firm commitment to reinstate their ‘School Street’ closure to unnecessary car traffic, which was piloted successfully in 2021-22 and then removed.

Accompanied by headteacher Sarah Kotulecki, teacher Grant Malloch and their Vice-Chair of Governors Paul Simmonds, the children gave testimonies about the problem of too many cars outside the school in the morning, including a younger brother being nearly knocked down recently.

“My brother was crossing and a car didn’t stop,” said Billy. “It scared me. Little children like him can’t always see properly and cars don’t always see them. We need it to be safer.”

Ms Kotulecki outlined all the school community has done to address the problem, including a listening campaign followed by letters to senior politicians and other local powerholders.

“We encourage families to walk, scoot or cycle instead of drive. That sparked a bigger shift in how we think about travel as a school. We brought in cycle training, hosted events, and built a whole-school approach to active travel.”

Mr Woodburn (who was on the screen as currently away from the city) complemented the school on “doing all you can so far” and said “we must now come in and complete the job”. He agreed to attend a Bicycle Breakfast at the school on 24th September, to look at enabling additional cycle and scooter parking on the school site, and to share best practice from his upcoming trip to the Netherlands; also, with Transport Planner Raeesa Chowdhury, to produce a Council press release about the Cold Harbour School Street campaign.

The children agreed to do some research and inform Mr Woodburn of other ‘danger points’ near their school, also locations near their homes where cars drive too fast, and Ms Kotulecki agreed to share the school’s community engagement method with other schools across the city.

After the meeting, the children scored it 8 out of 10, to be improved only by provision of drink and biscuits!

On one of MK’s hottest days this year, pupils and parents of Bushfield School in Wolverton pedalled out on a circuit of the town picking up others on the way to school.

The children were rallied by the school’s Head of PE, Ms Jade Jones (second from right below). MK Mayor James Lancaster joined the start of the ride (third from right below), as part of his mission to encourage more of the city’s children to take part in sport and outdoor recreation, as did Cycling Citizens MK Co-chair Ann Shrimpton (first from right below).

Following cakes donated by Tea & Toast on Church Street, Wolverton, the ride set off with 10 children and parents.

“It’s good to be part of this,” said the Mayor. “I’m just pleased to be supporting children taking part in physical activity outdoors.”

The school children (and adults) taking part, really enjoyed the ride – what a great start to the day.

If any more schools are interested in organising a Bike Bus – please get in touch with Cycling Citizens MK who can advise on the steps.

Our co-chair, Simon, has been in York attending the Active City 2025 conference, looking at all things Active Travel. He writes below…

For two days, over 400 people from the world of active travel, town and city planning, transport infrastructure, walking and cycling advocacy, and local & national government met to discuss and share ideas around getting people moving.

Professor Chris Witty, the UK’s Chief Medical Officer, started the conference reminding the attendees that this is part of the health agenda; being active is the biggest support of health and it should be built into everyday life.  The greatest health gains are to be had by those doing very little – a consistent theme throughout the conference.  If children get into the habit of active travel, it helps massively in the long term.  There’s work to be done by parents/carers and schools to help with this.  Safety is a big challenge, but if it’s safe for an 8 year old, it’s likely to be safe for an 80 year old!

The North East’s Mayor, Kim McGuiness reinforced that active travel is and needs to remain an integral part of the bigger project; employment, public transport, child poverty, women’s safety and more, we mustn’t forget how being active can be a significant support for these areas of everyday life.  She talked about her own experiences as a woman, and challenged the conference organisers, Active Travel England.  In their own annual report, they had plenty of pictures of women, but only one mention in the text!  More to be done here Active Travel England!

The parliamentary under secretary for Local Transport Simon Lightwood, talked about the need for active travel to be easier, safer, and more accessible.  If we get it right it creates healthier communities and cleaner air; ‘Investing in active travel is like kicking into an open goal’, nobody is going to say ‘let’s not invest in the health and wellbeing of our population!’.

Other sessions I attended at the conference:

• Supporting women and girls to be active (why it’s important to consider gender)
• Meeting people where they are (how do we engage people who aren’t engaged?)
• Make friends and influence councillors (how to connect with politicians to progress the active travel aims)

What does this all mean for Cycling Citizens MK?

Much of what was shared at this conference is not new to the challenges we have in Milton Keynes.  We know how beneficial it is to get on your bike to ride to work, school, the shops, your place of worship or just to move and get some fresh air.  The challenges are getting people on a bike for the first time, or for the first time in a while.  We need to ensure that cycling is accessible and affordable, and crucially that cycling is safe and empowering, especially for women and girls.  We’ve got many of the solutions available to us; what’s stopping us?