The draft strategy has a comprehensive guide for what good cycling provision should look like and says designers of schemes must try them out themselves on a bike.

It says:

Cycle infrastructure should be accessible to everyone from eight to 80 and beyond: it should be planned and designed for everyone. The opportunity to cycle in our towns and cities should be universal.

Cycles must be treated as vehicles and not as pedestrians. On urban streets, cyclists must be physically separated from pedestrians and should not share space with pedestrians.

Where cycle routes cross pavements, a physically segregated track should always be provided. At crossings and junctions, cyclists should not share the space used by pedestrians but should be provided with a separate parallel route.

Cyclists must be physically separated and protected from high volume motor traffic, both at junctions and on the stretches of road between them.

Side street routes, if closed to through traffic to avoid rat-running, can be an alternative to segregated facilities or closures on main roads – but only if they are truly direct.

Cycle infrastructure should be designed for significant numbers of cyclists, and for non-standard cycles. Our aim is that thousands of cyclists a day will use many of these schemes.

Largely cosmetic interventions which bring few or no benefits for cycling or walking will not be funded from any cycling or walking budget.

Cycle infrastructure must join together, or join other facilities together by taking a holistic, connected network approach which recognises the importance of nodes, links and areas that are good for cycling.

Cycle parking must be included in substantial schemes, particularly in city centres, trip generators and, securely, in areas with flats where people cannot store their bikes at home.

Parking should be provided in sufficient amounts at the places where peopleactually want to go.

Schemes must be legible and understandable. Schemes must be clearly and comprehensively signposted and labelled.

Major ‘iconic’ items, such as overbridges must form part of wider, properly thought-through schemes.

As important as building a route itself is maintaining it properly afterwards. Surfaces must be hard, smooth, level, durable, permeable and safe in all weathers.

Trials can help achieve change and ensure a permanent scheme is right first time. This will avoid spending time, money and effort modifying a scheme that does not perform as anticipated.

Access control measures, such as chicane barriers and dismount signs, should not be used. The simplest, cheapest interventions can be the most effective.

Cycle routes must flow, feeling direct and logical.

Schemes must be easy and comfortable to ride.

All designers of cycle schemes must experience the roads as a cyclist.

Schemes must be consistent.