Should you feel like starting an argument, it is always worth remembering there is one foolproof topic to get everyone heated: cycling.

The humble two-wheeler comes in for a lot of grief, as does its rider, for everything from riding without a helmet to holding up car traffic to jumping red lights.

Ben Sherratt is the Bike It officer for Sustrans in Brighton and Hove, and it is his job to change both perceptions and behaviours for the better.

Sustrans is a UK-wide charity working towards a more sustainable transport network, which they say should include better walking, cycling and public transport facilities.

Ben’s role, which he has been in since 2006 and describes as “the best job in the world”, is to engage children, mainly in primary schools, in cycling as a form of transport, but also as a way of life.

He works in partnership with schools and local authorities, and at the moment is involved intensively with 11 schools in the area, and with 20 in a supportive role.

The actual work is wide and varied, and involves arranging and running events, cycle rides and lessons, surveys, cycle training, competitions, mechanics workshops, clubs and teacher training days. Ben says it isn’t just the young people who need encouragement, it’s everyone involved in their upbringing: “This means getting parents, teachers and the local community on board.

I usually get the children to do this themselves by concentrating on what they want and putting this to the grown-ups in their lives.”

The biggest challenge of getting kids on bikes is dealing with the fear many parents have of both safety on the road and safety in general in the outside world. He says: “[parents] not allowing their children to get out and physical in the outdoors is a real problem for so many. I have managed to create a cycling culture in many of my schools now and this is slowly permeating through, as more and more kids are seen on their bikes. It has to be led by the kids and then their parents and teachers.”

In the four years Ben has been in his job his remit has expanding from working with ten schools to 30. Earlier this year, a competition he organised saw 10,000 cycle journeys made from just 14 schools, with one school achieving a whopping 44.8% of students getting on their bike to and from home.

Ben hopes that in another five years he will be working with all the schools in Brighton, supported by both Brighton and Hove City Council and the Government.

“I hope that by then we will be achieving 15-20% of the school population cycling to school on a regular basis as happens in my current schools at the moment,” he says.

Despite the desire to expand, Ben already has an intense workload, covering 10,000 miles a year on his bike for work and on the school run with his own children. But, he says, it’s the cycling that helps him unwind from work.

“I hope that cost cutting doesn’t affect my project,” he says. “We’re actively promoting a cleaner, cheaper future-proof way of getting around. And I get to work with the most enthusiastic people in our society – children – every day.”