CYCLISTS in Lancaster can rejoice they have three million reasons to freewheel to happiness.

The city has scooped a £1.5 million windfall to spend on providing for push bikers.

It has been granted the status of a cycling demonstration' town and will receive £500,000 a year from the Department of Transport for the next three years.

And that money will be matched by a similar sum from other backers including Lancashire County Council and the European Regional Development Fund.

Lancaster is one of only six places in the country to win the cash following assessement by members of Cycling England, the Government-funded organ-isation behind the scheme.

Local and county council members and officers plus representatives of pro-cycling organisations Dynamo and Pedal Power all met judges to press the city's case.

They had to show commitment to raising the level of cycling in the district The extra money is to be spent on measures including filling in the missing links in the district's cycle path net-work specifically the canal towpath from Ham-merton Hall Lane to Aldcliffe, Ryelands Park, and an improved route to the university better signage and more parking places for bikes.

The city council's Peter Loker says: "The aim of the demonstration towns prog-ramme is not only to show that cyclists get exercise, save money and tackle the pollution problem, but to make a real change in the environment so people feel that cycling is a possibility.

"Lancaster could really feel like a great European cycling city."

Cllr Gina Dowding, chair of the sustain-ability partnership on the city council says: "This is absolutely brilliant news for everyone in the dist-rict. We now have the funding to really invest in measures that will increase cycling rates - to make better provision for cyclists and to improve facilities for those many people who are thinking of taking up cycling.

"The benefits of increased cycling rates will be felt by all of us in some way or another. The benefits will include reduction of pollution, improving health, and reducing travel to work times."