Pupils from a Chester primary school can now enjoy cycling to school all year round, thanks to a new cycle shelter.

The shelter at St Werburgh’s and St Columba’s Primary School was made possible by funding from Active Travel England (ATE), awarded to Cheshire West and Chester Council.

This initiative will benefit the large number of pupils who regularly cycle to school.

The shelter will provide protection for their bikes against the weather.

The funding for the shelter was part of a larger grant awarded to the council for several projects.

To support the funding bid, the school conducted hands-up surveys and registered their data into Modeshift STARS.

The bike shed before    (Image: Cheshire West and Chester Council)

The surveys revealed that more than 10 per cent of pupils already cycle or scoot to school, and more than half of pupils expressed a desire to do so.

Councillor Karen Shore, the council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for environment, transport, and highways, said: "St Werburgh’s and St Columba’s Primary School does lots of activities to promote walking, scooting and cycling.

"I am so pleased we were able to offer the school a grant as part of our funding extension from ATE.

"The school is near the Pink Cycling Route where we are planning to upgrade a junction later this year, which will make it even easier for pupils to cycle into school.

"We hope to use this project as a case study to monitor increases in active travel by pupils and their families – and would ultimately like all schools to do this."

Sarah Jackson, school business manager at St Werburgh’s and St Columba’s Primary School, said: "A huge thank you to the council for supporting the application for a bike shelter for our school.

"We have a large number of children who cycle to school each day, dry storage will encourage more families to come to school on their bikes.

"We hold regular cycle to school weeks with overwhelming success.

"During these weeks children have come to me and said how much safer and quieter the road outside school is.

"As a school, we are keen to encourage healthy lifestyles and look after our environment."