YORK people are being urged to greet the New Year with a resolution to get on their bikes and seek better health.

With a new national report suggesting the nation's future health and economy could be at risk from sedentary lifestyles, City of York Council transport chiefs are recommending more walking and cycling to help local people win the "battle of the bulge".

As the season of overindulgence draws to a close, more than a third of British adults are planning to shed pounds in the New Year, while almost as many make "getting fit" their resolution, according to a new poll by ICM.

A Fabian Society report calls for this wish to be translated into action to protect British children's health, warning that a third of children are overweight and one in ten is obese, a condition that can lead to heart disease, diabetes and kidney failure.

Dan Johnson, the council's principal transport planner, said: "Despite government advice that people should take 30 minutes' exercise each day, only two per cent of journeys made nationwide are by bicycle, still fewer cycle to school, and the car continues to dominate commuter traffic. National targets of tripling cycling to six per cent of journeys by 2010 are seen as very difficult to achieve.

"However, exceptions such as York, which already has 19 per cent of commuters reaching work by bicycle and five per cent of children cycling to school, show that Britain is capable of reaching levels of cycling comparable to the Netherlands and Germany."

Coun Tracey Simpson-Laing, the council's executive member for transport, said: "We're proud of what we've achieved in York, but it's crucial that we get the message through to children and their parents, if we want to have a healthy city 20 years down the line."

Updated: 10:19 Saturday, January 04, 2003