Plans to segregate cycle lane shelved — to delight of residents who park in it

"We're not against the cycle lane, we just want it to be done in the right way so it doesn’t cause us the remotest inconvenience.

“Myself and others were never against the idea as a whole, just the plans that were proposed, as always.”

"I'm glad we did what we did though as it paid off in the end put a proper spanner in the works. If it had gone ahead, the congestion on the side streets would have been awful we would have had to walk round the corner or out the back door to our cars."

"The hundred cars here would have to be parked elsewhere," he said and, without any appreciation of the irony of blocking efforts to make cycling to school safer, he added, "The amount of school traffic is already excessive so the risk of accidents during school pick-up and drop-off times would be drastically increased if all these cars are forced to park on the streets in question."

A spokesperson from North East Lincolnshire Council said:

"With all the surveys reviewed, Cllr Swinburn can confirm that the proposal to introduce a new cycle lane on Weelsby Road did not secure the level of support required through engagement surveys.”

Cllr Swinburn said: "In this case, we’ve decided not to go ahead with a protected cycle lane because the alterations required to install the cycleway were not supported by the community we the lack the abilities to lead in the roles for which we were elected and to differentiate between 'consultation' and 'plebiscite'.

Literally the picture of the street shows driveways that could fit 6 cars on and yet they moan about a cycle lane...oh and the school thing guess what you can use the bike lane and get your lazy dumplings some exercise - the council are so pathetic 

The council should just say, "OK we won't build any proper infrastructure, but we will enforce what is already there." Then  every day fine the crap out of every car that is parked in the "cycle lane".

The council ought to have stuck to their guns: if the local residents could be trusted not to park in the painted cycle lane that is already there then they wouldn't need to put in a protected/segregated cycle lane.

Whether it's a segregated/protected lane or a simple painted lane, the point is that those people are NOT supposed to be parking their cars there 

The real failure here is council underestimating the effort of engagement with people. Or probably not really caring.

a) Council didn't commit to this. They failed to put together a persuasive story and keep arguing for it.

b) They didn't do the work! I don't know what engagement they had with residents but in my experience that's often limited to "inform" (posters and letters), "consult" (survey) then "implement" or "scrap".  So by the time this gets on may people's radar there's just a question "change - do you like it?" to which they mostly reply "no" if they bother at all. I know this is the hard (and not cheap) bit but that is real democracy in action. You have to listen to complaints / worries:

Quote:

Residents argued that many properties do not have off-street parking so preventing people from parking in the cycle lane would force more traffic onto the surrounding streets, which already struggle with parked cars and parents picking up and dropping off children at two local schools.

Then identify the issues that people think there are (too many parked cars - especially around school times) and then show what you're doing is part of the solution. Children coming into the schools from long distances? Look at that. Is there a school cycle bus at the moment? Get one going now - then "cyclists" are not just some "outsiders" who are getting free provision at the expense of us. Dunno about the side street parking but that's only a problem if people parking on the main street want to park there so why's that? What about these odd conservation area rules - maybe they need a look? Why do they all have lots of cars in the first place? Sounds like bigger transport issues - so look at that but stress cycling can and will play a part in those.

c) "Consultation" should not be a referendum - if you've done the work above. By the time you get to your main "consultation" you should have convinced the majority that this is of overall benefit. (Of course you may not be able to reach the majority of people anyway but you should have a large number on-side). At that point you "consult" - but only on the "how", not on the "doing or not".

At the end of the day the issue was "too many cars filling the space" - so the answer cannot be the status quo of "no change to the number of cars and continue to let them fill all the space".

One vocal critic of the plans, Craig Lamb, said he is pleased the campaigning paid off, saying: "We're not against the cycle lane, we just want it to be done in the right way.

Some of my best friends are black but . . . . . . . . . . Blah, blah

Broken Britain Brexity Barage Bammons Borking the Bicyclists

"The hundred cars here would have to be parked elsewhere..."

No. Just scrap them.

Ok then. Grimsby drivists, we will allow you to park there as it's so important. But the cycle lane will still be built, taking space from the bit of the road you don't abandon your property on. Happy now?

Does anyone else see vehicles parked in a cycle lane and start to imagine driving over them with a tank?

De. press. ing. The level of stupidity is something to behold. This country...

Great environment in our towns and cities isn't it... The comment "The hundred cars here would have to be parked elsewhere,"... Says it all... Councils are not looking at the big picture here... If a hundred cars are parked up unused it should set off a bright lightbulb... I guess they are all to dim.

You could copy and paste the responses from local residents for any scheme like this up and down the country. 

Look at the width of that road FFS!

'The amount of school traffic is already excessive' used as an argument against a cycle lane??? Things will never change when faced with this level of stupidity...

I'm obviously missing something, but looking at that photo the homeowners have masses of space to park on their own properties.

Quote:

We're not against the cycle lane, we just want it to be done in the right way

"i.e. somewhere nowhere near us."