I WOULD like to respond to Mike Usherwood’s letter about how government funding aimed at improving cycling facilities in York has been spent (Letters, February 26).

Between 2008 and 2011, £3.68 million in central government funding was allocated to Cycling City York, which is a community-led partnership.

Its aim was to improve and develop facilities for cyclists, and get more people cycling. Thousands of people have benefited from our guided cycle rides, community cycle try-out sessions, bike maintenance courses and other activities.

We have also staged a series of major events, including the first York Cycling City Races and the annual Festival of Cycling; and produced a range of resources for cyclists, including a series of leisure ride maps, a city-wide cycle route map, the Cycling City York website – and regular newsletters.

We have been improving and developing facilities and infrastructure for cyclists and, wherever possible, other road users.

Examples include filling missing links in the existing cycle network and providing funding towards the cost of York’s cycle Hub Station.

We have also worked closely with employers to encourage people to commute by bike. For more information, visit cycling.city@york.gov.uk

Graham Titchener, Programme manager, Cycling City York.

• RE YOUR leading article on February 25, the solution to the conflict between cyclists and motorists is to develop a citywide network of cycle routes, using quiet roads, open land and other rights of way, which segregate cyclists from motorists instead of leaving them to battle it out on the same space as now. It has to be said that the conflict might then be between cyclists and pedestrians, who mix no better than cyclists and motorists. But we can leave that to another day.

Tony Ridge, Moorgate, York.