THE LOSS of bike safety classes for children has been criticised by Swindon politicians.

Last week, the Swindon Advertiser revealed a £93,000 council contract to provide Bikeability courses for Year 5 and 6 classes had fallen through.

Swindon Borough Council said the training provider had dropped out at a late stage in the tendering process.

“It was not possible to arrange an alternative provider in the timeframe available,” Coun Fionuala Foley said.

The loss of the free bike safety courses has not been popular, with parents and politicians pointing to Public Health England figures showing a third of children in Swindon are overweight or obese.

Justin Tomlinson, MP for North Swindon, said: “These popular courses are a great way to help children be more active. Surely alternative providers can be found and I hope even at this late stage Swindon Borough Council considers appealing for new bidders.”

Labour’s spokesman for highways, Coun Steve Allsopp, added: “This is a really terrible decision by the council. There is no better way to get children active than getting them using their bikes. And with childhood obesity the highest in the region in Swindon, it is even more crucial that children are being more active.

“However if we are going to encourage children to cycle we need to make sure they are doing so safely. That is why this training course is so important. It gives children the tools to cycle safely that they can take with them for the rest of their lives. The council has to be flexible enough to deal late pull-outs from suppliers.”

Lawn Primary School mum Paula James, 43, from Lawns, whose son is currently in Year 6, was cross about the loss of the Bikeability contract. She said: “I think if it was something like bins going uncollected, the council wouldn’t say we’ll wait until next year.

“They’d just find another provider.

“You want kids to be healthy and kids to be safe and confident on the roads.”

Last week, Coun Fionuala Foley said: “We are extremely disappointed not to be able to offer Bikeability training in schools this year.

“The rules around government funding also ensure we can’t roll it over into next academic year.

“We have written to headteachers informing them of them of the situation and we are aiming to have a new provider in place for Year 6 pupils in September.

“We will be liasing with the successful provider to see if alternative provision could be made available to those pupils who have missed out on this year, although this would come at a cost to parents.”