Glasgow community groups to benefit from £150,000 Wheels in Motion Fund grants
Twenty-three organisations across Glasgow have received a significant funding boost which will help more people get involved in cycling and wheeled urban sports.
Community groups, clubs and associations across the city who made successful applications to the new Wheels in Motion Fund will share £150,000 of grant funding to roll out new ideas which encourage people to become more physically active by getting on a bike, skateboarding, rollerskating or scootering.
The Glasgow City Council fund opened in January and made grants of between £1,000 and £10,000 available to eligible projects that help local residents, particularly from underrepresented groups, to take part in cycling and wheeled sports.
The funding is administered by Glasgow Life. It is designed to encourage physical activity that supports health and social interaction and promote environmentally friendly travel.
News of the Wheels in Motion Fund awards comes ahead of Bike Week 2025 (9-15 June), Cycling UK’s annual celebration of cycling that promotes its many benefits for individuals, communities, and the environment. Bike Week is dedicated to promoting cycling as a fun, healthy, and environmentally friendly way to get around.
One of the 23 organisations set to benefit from the Wheels in Motion grants is Cycling Without Age Scotland. Cycling Without Age Scotland will use the money to help fund a trishaw and storage facility to offer more free rides on e-bike trishaws to improve the mental and physical wellbeing of people of all ages, but predominantly the elderly who face mobility challenges or feel lonely or isolated. The new trishaw will be based at either Riverside Museum or Pollok Country Park.
Among the other groups who will be supported by the Wheels in Motion Fund are the Church House family support centre in Bridgeton and the Central and West Integration Network.
Church House encourages young people to grow and develop, at their own pace, into young adults. Church House will use its grant to give young people from deprived backgrounds the chance to try out BMX bikes and design, build and maintain skateboards.
The funding given to the Central and West Integration Network will help asylum seekers and refugees to sign up for and use free nextbike memberships across Glasgow. The network describes having access to the free use of a bike as “life-changing” for asylum seekers and refugees, who often have to spend much of their £7 daily asylum financial support allowance on transport when attending appointments. The Central and West Integration Network says being able to cycle and exercise outside will also help improve members’ mental health and help overcome feelings of isolation by offering access to new activities and volunteering opportunities in community organisations, libraries and museums.
The Wheels in Motion fund supports Glasgow City Council’s Cycling and Urban Sports Strategy and citywide work encouraging active travel, travel behaviour change and cycling and urban sports to improve the health and wellbeing of Glasgow’s residents.