THE number of seriously-injured Croydon cyclists has risen as the council continues to spend less money on bike safety than other London boroughs.
In 2005, eight cyclists were severely injured, whereas in 2012 – when the last set of data was available – the number had shot up to 20.
In 2012 more than 100 cycling-related accidents causing serious or slight injuries were reported.
Last year Roger De Clerk lost his life after his bike went under the wheels of a 410 bus near the junction of Addiscombe Road and Cherry Orchard Road in November.
Austen Cooper, who runs the Croydon Cycling Campaign, said he would continue to "beat the council round the head" with the statistics and until something was done to improve cycling in the borough.
During his research, Mr Cooper found that from the financial years 2006/7 to 2009/10, Croydon applied to TfL for £2.8 million to spend on a cycle network of streets.
It received £1.8 million instead but only spent £1.4 million between the years 2006/7 to 2008/9.
"That works out at around £4.50 per resident in Croydon," he said. In comparison, the top 25 per cent of London boroughs asked for £6 million in the same bid, received £2.6 million and spent £2.4 million of it, working out at £11.05 per resident.
Mr Cooper also referred to the 2010 Biking Borough Study, a report commissioned by the Cycling Star Alliance to look at the potential of Croydon.
The report highlighted the borough's below-average number of cyclists and warned the council that it would have to do more to meet the mayor of London's target for a 400 per cent increase in cycling by 2026.
The campaigner said there was a "lack of political will in Croydon" from both parties to tackle the issue.
However, Mr Cooper believes Croydon is in a prime position to reap the benefits of cycling safety funding.
"Croydon has Westfield coming and plenty of section 106s which could fund a cycling project," he said.
In the mayor's most recent fund for cycling schemes in London, Croydon has received £500,000 out of the £17 million pot – half the amount given to boroughs like Newham, Lambeth and Westminster.
The money will be available over three years and will go toward bike parking spaces, cycle and driver training as well as other initiatives to encourage people to take up cycling.
A council spokesman said: "Croydon has bid as aggressively as any other local authority for cycle funding and has generally been successful in obtaining and spending substantial sums of money.
"We have a wide range of capital projects designed to improve cycle routes and we have an annual programme of cycle training and road safety campaigns designed to encourage more people onto two wheels."
