Harlow Renaissance led the production of a bid to the government’s Cycle Town initiative in 2008. This was intended to capitalise upon the cycling network established as a legacy of the new town masterplan, by upgrading some of this, extending the network and providing better signage and information to encourage more people to use it. A strong partnership came together including Harlow Renaissance, Essex County Council, Harlow Council, Harlow 2020, the Cycle Touring Club, West Essex Primary Care Trust and Active Harlow. Through this partnership, a number of cycling improvements were delivered in 2007 and 2008:
- The provision of additional cycle stands at Harlow Town Station and Harlow Mill Station.
- Completion of new cycle paths along Edinburgh Way and Elizabeth Way.
- Repairs to the fire damage at Staple Tye underpass.
- Completion of a new cycle path along First Avenue as part of the wider road improvement scheme.
Unfortunately, the bid for Cycle Town status was not successful, but the bid process created a strong partnership which was determined to build on some of the existing work undertaken by Essex County Council and ensure delivery of much of what was included in the Cycle Town bid, albeit over an inevitably much longer period without the central government funding.
A new initiative, Cycle Harlow, has been created, led by Essex County Council which from 2010 will deliver:
- Completion of a new cycle path along Southern Way to link with the new Passmore’s School
- Repairs and maintenance programme to the existing cycle path network
- Implementation of new signage across the whole cycle path network to provide directions and estimated journey times expressed in minutes
- An updated cycling map of Harlow
- Cycling training in partnership with the schools
- Formation of the Cycle Harlow cycling club