Parents are denying their children the freedom they enjoyed in their own youth to take to the roads on a bicycle.

The majority of parents (81 per cent) ban their children from cycling independently or restrict them to circuits of their immediate road or neighbourhood streets, a survey suggests.

While three quarters of children today are allowed to cycle for recreation at the weekend or after school, only one in five is allowed to use a bike to get around during the week.

Only 4 per cent of children actually cycle to school regularly, according to the Populus survey of more than 1,000 parents for Cycling England, an agency created to promote cycling.

This is in contrast to parents’ experiences of cycling as children. More than half (56 per cent) say that they used their bike as regular transport when they were school-age.

The survey also found that the most common age at which parents were able to cycle on the roads was 10 – today it has gone up to 12.

The main reason that parents gave for not allowing their child to cycle on the roads was safety (36 per cent), yet only 3 per cent said that they knew someone who had suffered an accident. Two thirds of parents felt that their child did not have the confidence and skills to ride on the road and about half thought that their child would benefit from cycling training.

Phillip Darnton, chairman of Cycling England, said that today’s parents were creating a generation of “cul-de-sac kids”, with tough limits on when, where and how they may cycle.

“Concern about safety is understandable but we need to remember that on-road accidents are in long-term decline. Every parent will want to ensure their children are kept safe but they cannot live out their lives within the shadows of the cul-de-sac, never able to venture farther away from home.

“This is particularly important, as we know that cycling to school, to friends or just as a fun activity in its own right can play a hugely positive role in the development of a child’s independence,” he said.

He added that the research underlined the important role of cycling training in giving children the skills and confidence that they needed to cycle on the roads – and in giving parents the reassurance that their child would be well equipped to do so.

Cycling England has recruited a nationwide panel of parents to encourage enrolment in Bikeability, a new cycling proficiency scheme.

Emma Calloway, a member of the panel from Bristol, said that completing Bikeability training as a parent had given her a confidence that she could pass on to her children.

“Since my children started cycling to school they have benefited in all sorts of ways – they are healthier, more alert and more confident,” she said.

A separate survey for Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, found that nearly half of all pupils (47 per cent) wanted to cycle to school.

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