A POPULAR social enterprise, which encourages the elderly, less mobile and those with disabilities to cycle, has two more years of funding, thanks to HS2.

Bikeworks CIC is the brainchild of founding partners Zoe Portlock and Jim Blakemore, who established the social it in 2006 from their living room.

Eighteen years on, the organisation now supports communities in both East and West London.

Bikeworks will receive £56,000 from HS2’s Community & Environment Fund, enabling it to run its programme in its priority areas in the boroughs of Ealing and Hammersmith.

All of them are close to the line of the new railway.

From the cycling hub in Little Wormwood Scrubs, Bikeworks will run its Cycle Connect service.

This ‘cycle taxi with a difference’ uses side-by-side cycles to enable residents to book a four-seater Fun2Go cycle.

Accompanied by a trained ‘pilot’, it provides a lifeline to vulnerable residents who might not feel comfortable leaving the house alone.

The funding will primarily focus on supporting residents of the Old Oak estate in Hammersmith, the Wells House estate in Ealing and the Dalgarno estate in North Kensington.

Residents who wish to access the service can book a ‘ride side-by-side’ experience  through the Bikeworks team. There are three timetabled sessions per day.

Residents can also access for free the Bikeworks inclusive cycling hub in Little Wormwood Scrubs every Friday and every other Saturday to ride specialist cycles and get advice from experienced instructors.

HS2’s Community and Environment Fund was created to benefit communities disrupted by the construction of HS2 from London to West Midlands.

Applications for community-led projects are invited at hs2funds.org.uk/home/community-environment-fund/