Let's Ride Southall project has won the award for Best Sustainable Travel Initiative Community at the Modeshift National Sustainable Travel Awards ceremony in Leicester.

Let's Ride Southall is part of the Let's Go Southall scheme and has brought together a range of cycling activities to make them easily accessible in the town.

These include, free riding lessons, four new cycle hubs being set up in Southall and 2,500 new bikes which are going to be given away to residents.

According to the council, physical inactivity levels in Southall (43%) are significantly higher than the average nationally (25%) and in the borough (24%).

The team behind Let's Ride Southall, including volunteers, went into local groups to speak to residents and encourage them to take up, or rediscover, cycling.

One of the members of the Modeshift judging panel Steve Glazebrook, account manager at Joju Solar, said: "It is a very good example of providing active travel opportunities for the community covering a wide audience.

"The project allows the community to participate and engage in a number of cycling initiatives and will provide long term health benefits to the community."

With the help of Cycle Instructor and British Cycling, the team also held a wide range of cycling activities – including riding challenges for residents, daily rides led by instructors and rides especially for women, who are often least confident about cycling on our roads.

Dr Bike mechanics started a project to refurbish abandoned bikes collected by the council to sell on to the community at affordable prices.

Dr Bike has also been running cycle maintenance sessions to repair and service residents' bikes – and made some bikes available for people to try out, too.

By encouraging the option of cycling as an alternative mode of transport to driving, Let's Ride Southall has enabled people to become active as part of their everyday lives, with many pledging to make it a long-term lifestyle change.

The scheme is run by Ealing Council and community groups, and funded by Sport England and the council.