THE number of people cycling in Newport increased by 125 per cent during the first coronavirus lockdown.

Newport City Council’s deputy leader Roger Jeavons said in a cabinet meeting that this was something to be “proud of”.

Cllr Jeavons said: “During April, obviously with Covid lockdown, we had over 27,000 counts of people using the cycles compared to under 12,000 the same time the year before.

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“I think that’s something we should be really proud of with active travel.”

Newport boasts 20km of routes suitable for cycling, which is a 13.4km increase in six years.

In the cabinet meeting, Cllr Jeavons said that Newport only had 6.6km of cycle routes in 2014. This included 2.7km in traffic areas and 3.9km on roads.

Such cycle routes include the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal and Corporation Road.

The leader of Newport council, Cllr Jane Mudd said: “I would like to personally commend the work that’s been done on active travel.

“I am quite a frequent user of some these routes and they’re so well maintained and so easy to access it really does make a difference to people’s lives across the city.”