Cyclists banned from riding bikes in centre of French city Lille over complaints about "influx of bicycles"

Cycling campaigners and green councillors have slammed a decision by Lille city council to ban bicycles, as well as scooters and skateboards, from pedestrianised streets in the historic centre of the city in northern France.

The ban, which came into force earlier this month in what is France’s fifth-largest city, requires cyclists to dismount on a number of shopping streets, as well as the city’s Grand’Place, between 11am and 10pm on weekdays.

The zone is extended to a number of streets in Vieux-Lille, the city’s old town, between 11am and 7pm on Saturdays, reports BFM TV.

Police and postal workers’ bikes are exempt from the ban, as are children under the age of eight years.

Pierre Posmyk, the city councillor in charge of active mobility, claimed that the ban only affected “very few streets,” and said that “we have had too much of an influx of bicycles.”

“We’ve been getting complaints for months and months,” said Jacques Richir, Lille’s deputy mayor whose responsibilities include overseeing public space.

“Some people say, ‘I’m scared’, others say ‘I was hit by a bike’.

One local cyclist told BFM TV that he would change his route to avoid streets subject to the ban, but another hit out at the council, saying that telling cyclists to dismount “is easier than saying, we’re going to make a cycle track for them’.”

Green councillors have also criticised the ban, insisting that it “acts against what is after all a virtuous mode of transport, under the cover of regulating abusive practices.”

They added that “the times of operation and the much extended zone on a Saturday” constitute “a real obstacle to cycling mobility” for local people.

They also noted that a number of docking stations for the city’s V’Lille cycle hire scheme are located within the area where cycling is now banned.

“Renting a bike to walk alongside it is a new feature of the service,” they quipped.

Michel Anceau of the cycling campaign group Droit au Vélo (Right to Bike) said: “There are no alternative routes. The measure is too restrictive and is putting the brakes on using bikes in town.”

People ignoring the ban will reportedly face a fine of between €35 and €135, although police will focus initially on educating people about the ban rather than enforcing it through fines.

In the UK, a number of local authorities have banned cycling in town centres through the use of Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs), which are typically used to curb anti-social behaviour such as street drinking.

In July, we reported that a woman in Grimsby had been fined £660, and was also ordered to pay a victim services surcharge of £264 and costs of £226 for riding her bike in the town centre.

> Cyclist ordered to pay over £1,000 for riding bike in town centre – after council accused of targeting “old and slow”

The charity Cycling UK has criticised the use of PSPOs to ban cycling, with its head of campaigns Duncan Dollimore insisting that they effectively criminalise riding a bike and discouraging people from cycling.