The cycling instructors who teach children road safety skills have been told to get on their bike – for now. 

Rutland County Council has ended the casual agreements with the six cycling instructors who were putting school children through their paces to deliver the Bikeability scheme.

Bikeability is a practical cycling programme funded by Active Travel England, which comes under the department of transport. 

A spokesperson for Rutland County Council said: "Bikeability will continue to offer practical cycling lessons to Rutland children. Because this year's programme has met its targets with the funding provided by Active Travel England (ATE) and there are no more sessions to deliver, we've ended our current round of casual agreements with cycling instructors. 

"Rutland County Council has already written to accept ATE's latest offer of £27,411 grant funding for the next 12 months. This is a slight increase on last year's funding for 2024/25, which totalled £23,428. 

 "We are reviewing changes to the conditions that come attached to ATE's grant funding and how we can accommodate these as part of the programme. We're also reviewing whether we can work more closely with participating schools to help us deliver the next round of Bikeability sessions." 

The authority said the changes to the grant funding conditions include payments now only being made for the number of children who book a place, and cancellations will not be refunded. It also said there would be stronger audit and verification requirements and the council must collect and audit evidence from training providers that sessions took place.