People in York will become prisoners in their own homes during next month’s Tour de Yorkshire, according to one local resident.
Stage 2 of the race takes place on Saturday 2 May and runs from Selby to York. The arrival of the race in the city, where the men will ride two laps of a 20km circuit, will be preceded by a women’s criterium which will follow four laps of the same circuit.
Keith Woodland, who lives in Galtres Road, off Stockton Lane, Heworth, said that road closures would make it difficult for people to get around, particularly those with disabilities, and would also restrict access for emergency services.
City of York Council acknowledged that some people would be affected, but stressed it was trying to keep disruption to a minimum, reports the York Press.
“We will effectively be imprisoned for nine hours, at least, on the Saturday,” claimed Mr Woodland. “No thought seems to have gone into it. What access is there for carers and the emergency services?
“I don’t see that there is a lot in it for the ordinary people who will be trapped in this circle.”
He also queried the wisdom of bringing the race to York, which hosted the start of Stage 2 f last year’s Tour de France, an event that the city council spent £60,000 more than it had budgeted.
“You would think the council would have learnt a lesson and kept a low profile,” he insisted.
“There is a lack of thought for the people who live here and pay their way. I spoke to five or six of my neighbours yesterday and not one of them was in favour.”
Mr Woodland added: “People will say I am being anti-cyclist, but I am not. Thirty years ago, I used to cycle ten miles each way to work.”
In January, a report from City of York Council found that the visit of the Tour de France had brought £8.3 million to the city’s economy, and that 94 per cent of local residents believed the race had been positive for the local area.
It added that 44 per cent of people who had visited Yorkshire for the opening two stages of the race had made a return visit to the region since then.
Responding to Mr Woodland’s concerns, Tony Clarke, the council’s head of transport, said: “Due to the nature of the Tour de Yorkshire and the women’s race before it, road closures are necessary to ensure a safe event for both the riders and spectators.
“We have worked hard to minimise disruption to residents but some people in the city will be affected on May 2.
“All areas will be accessible on foot and by bicycle during the day and many city bus services will continue to run unaffected or to one of the two bus hubs, at the train station and Barbican.
“Residents who need to use their cars are asked to find an alternative parking arrangement outside the route.”
He added: “Residents with medical or care issues should contact tour@york.gov.uk and the council will work with them to address concerns.”
43 thoughts on “Tour de Yorkshire will make York residents “prisoners in own homes” says local man”
Perhaps they could organise a
Perhaps they could organise a demonstration with placards saying, a la Father Ted, “Careful now” and “Down with this sort of thing”.
Strange how people seem to
Strange how people seem to care about emergency service access and people with disabilities in these situations, but not at any other time?
SideBurn wrote:Strange how
10k, half marathons, full marathons, you never hear a whisper. A bike race or sportive? My god the hounds of hell are released.
I used to live near a football ground, average attendance only 6000 but you would not believe the inconvenience every two weeks; traffic, anti-social behaviour like people pissing in the street, skipfulls of litter. No-one batted an eyelid.
Agreed, used to live near
Agreed, used to live near White Hart Lane, frequent disruptions but that’s the fun of it. Used to live near Notting Hill carnival route, again chaos, but you just go out and enjoy the event.
I like the comment ‘ I used
I like the comment ‘ I used to cycle ….’ sounds like ‘my best friend is black’ …
You would think the organisers worked out emergency access eh ?
As for disabled yes a problem when you can not walk but it is only for 9 hours, loads of pre notice for it, is staying in for one day on a Saturday such a big deal ?
well said half wheeler do I
well said half wheeler do I hear from Londoners when the whole city is closed for the Marathon, complain ? course not they go out and enjoy the spectacle and cheer on the people.
Same as with the Tour De France or Paris Roubaix etc they celebrate the event as we did last year. Frankly ignore the Nimby’s for one off events.
It will only make the
It will only make the miserable “prisoners in their own homes” other will be out enjoying it.
Ahhh Yorkshire! 🙁 I see the problem.
TBF to Yorkshire their
TBF to Yorkshire their hosting of the Tour showed what a great place it is and very welcomed it so much.
As someone who will be cut
As someone who will be cut off from the outside world by the Manchester marathon next week, I have a tiny bit of sympathy, but as other people have said it is only for a day.
Access for emergency services will be planned, and will likely be faster than usual as the route will be lined with first responders.
PS I’m not anti runner, I used to run around the playground when I were a wee tyke 👿
Come on guys, he DID used to
Come on guys, he DID used to ride a bike 30 years ago. He’s a real cyclist…
It’s one f’ing day!
It’s one f’ing day!
My Dad used to live in a
My Dad used to live in a little side road just off the route of the London Marathon. Lovely road, very quiet, the house had a big garden and it was actually quite secluded given that it was on the Isle of Dogs.
Once a year, he couldn’t drive into or out of his road as the entire area was shut down for the Marathon.
So he did this thing called “planning ahead”. If he needed to be anywhere, he’d go a day early or come back a day late. Otherwise he’d do his shopping to ensure he had everything he needed for that weekend, then either go out and watch the event or just stay in if the weather was rubbish.
Really not difficult, no-one was “a prisoner in their own home”.
Isn’t this a bit of a
Isn’t this a bit of a non-story? It’s one local resident, who’s spoken to a couple of their friends. If there 1000s protesting that would be one thing. But there is precisely nothing in this world that you wouldn’t be able to find one person who is against it. I know people who don’t even like Creme Eggs!
leyupab wrote:Isn’t this a
At this stage I would agree but once someone comes out then others will find their voice. The plane for the ToY is that it will be an annual race. If people are complaining, without even one edition having been run, can you imagine the whinging after a few years? Hopefully not…
HalfWheeler wrote:leyupab
I think the give away is in the name, Tour of Yorkshire not Tour of York so York won’t be affected every year unlike when the York Marathon takes place with the same effect to the same householders but no wingeing. There are a lot of other people affected by the ToY who are embracing the event. As said previously he’s just a winger
Gus T wrote:HalfWheeler
I think the give away is in the name, Tour of Yorkshire not Tour of York so York won’t be affected every year unlike when the York Marathon takes place with the same effect to the same householders but no wingeing. There are a lot of other people affected by the ToY who are embracing the event. As said previously he’s just a winger— leyupab
Ah, so complaining about bike races will be confined to the city limits of York? I see now.
‘As someone who will be cut
‘As someone who will be cut off from the outside world by the Manchester marathon next week,’
how will you be cut off from the outside world? Is your front door to be nailed shut? Or do you mean that you won’t be able to use a car for a short time?
andyp wrote:how will you be
It was exaggeration for effect dear boy. There are diversionary routes in place etc.
But can you imagine what its like to be surrounded on all sides by sweaty people wearing lycra, eating energy gels, drinking from bidons and obsessing about their split times on Strava? Its hell man! 😀
But we’ve laid up stores (well I’ve nicked the kids leftover easter eggs, and bought enough beer to see me through) and hopefully we ‘ll get through it somehow.
Back in the day entire
Back in the day entire communities were imprisoned in their homes, sometimes for their whole lives. But then the motor car was invented, which saved everyone from such misery.
Quote:Back in the day entire
Fixed that for you…
crikey wrote:Quote:Back in
I think you broke it pal.
The man is a full blown idiot
The man is a full blown idiot whinger.
We are cut off once a year for the Great North Run.
No one complains. Most walk to the edge of the estate to cheer it past actually
No one suffers as the bluelight services can still get though
some people just have to moan
some people just have to moan – around these parts people are ‘imprisoned in their homes’ when it snows and their little side road doesn’t take priority for the snowplough over the main routes, when the police close a road after an accident, when road works mean they have to take a slightly longer route to somewhere
all ‘Imprisoned in their homes’ means is that they can’t use the car for a few hours or need to park it a few streets away if they do and the people who moan the loudest seem often to be retired people who have the most time to make alternative arrangements, the least need to travel and yet seem the most incapable of any kind of planning for these contingencies
Northernbike wrote:
all
They’ll be the same people who moan about other people parking in ‘their’ street, so they can’t park a few streets away!
I bet that if TdY never went
I bet that if TdY never went to York in the future that there would be complaints about the unfairness of it all and how much the city was loosing out ! !
You would have thought ‘The
You would have thought ‘The disabled’ would be happy for the event to come to them for a change….
Whatever happened to the
Whatever happened to the Dunkirk or Blitz spirit these people go one about?
leyupab wrote:Isn’t this a
Precisely!
<rose-tinted spectacles>
They didn’t have disabled people and carers in those days.
</rose-tinted spectacles>
lack of access for emergency
lack of access for emergency services? Pretty sure with the event planning for this sort of thing “emergency services shall have absolute priority over the race” (or words to that effect) are prominently featured in the planning documents.
There should be an immediate
There should be an immediate investigation into who cut off those poor peoples legs
A someone who lives inside
A someone who lives inside the loop of the York circuit I hope I won’t be imprisoned in my home. I’d rather hoped to go and watch the race.
Will nobody think of the
Will nobody think of the children! What will this do to house prices? Some of my best friends are cyclists!
FFS.
I would have thought that the
I would have thought that the emergency services would in fact find them self with improved access as if it’s an emergency they can use the route which is entirely with out obstruction unless you count the riders, who can be stopped by the marshals if need be.
Which is seldom the case on any other day in a city centre full of badly parked cars and egotists who refuse to move for ambulances.
He doesn’t look happy does he
He doesn’t look happy does he in the picture, (York Press link).
Looks to me that the paper went out looking for a negative response and found it. It’s not a bad paper overall, our cats enjoy it in the litter tray. There’s plenty of grief directed at York Council because of its transport issues, Lendal Bridge fiasco for instance and I think there’s folk who want to turn a positive event into a negative gripe.
“The idea that we need bread and circuses to get people into York is a joke.”
I don’t go to York for bread either and cycling isn’t a circus, not to say there aren’t some clowns on bikes out there but there are a lot more knuckle dragging apes in cars, people stuck in their homes, starring out, licking the glass….they need something to look forward to!
“according to one local
“according to one local resident”…
imprisoned … For one day
imprisoned … For one day … there’s always walking although i suspect
that wouldn’t be considered by “local man” as that would mean
physical exertion … twats !
People who don’t regularly
People who don’t regularly ride a bicycle do have a bit of a blind spot for non-cycling events (or, conversely, a sensitive spot for cycling events), mind.
I appreciate it’s not the same thing, but my local council (Bristol) announced that it was closing the Circular Road, on an area of parkland called the Downs, for a cycling event. Specifically, to allow families and others to cycle around there without having to mix it with the cars.
To hear our local press report it, you’d think that this was the end of the world. Commenters on their website saying how its disgusting and will cause traffic chaos (because Bristol doesn’t have that already, apparently…), and how ‘we will be prisoners in our own homes’.
I thought, wow – this is going to be really big, and looked into it in more detail.
It turns out that the council are closing this road (which is just a loop around the Downs, easily bypassed for access purposes if you have to drive) for a grand total of three hours, on a Sunday morning, once this year (next weekend, actually).
And this is the apocalyptic event which will make people ‘prisoners in their own homes’ (TM)?
Yet all of these same people appear to be blind to the fact that all day Saturday, for every Saturday during the football season, the local amateur football league fills up the entire Downs with their football pitches, and you can’t park a car up there because of all the footballers parking up along the verges so they don’t have to walk too far.
But that’s OK, because you can still drive around it on the road 8}
Perhaps I should cancel the
Perhaps I should cancel the hotel booking I have made in York expressly to see The Tour of Yorkshire ?
Perhaps I should cancel the
Perhaps I should cancel the hotel booking I have made in York expressly to see The Tour of Yorkshire ?
It’s funny, you should see
It’s funny, you should see what Hillsborough looks like when Sheffield Wednesday are playing- and that’s every other week! You’d think from the outside that it was in lock-down but it really isn’t. The authorities do a really good job at keeping in all running.
Luckily nobody interviews any braindead NIMBY idiots to see if they can write a crap story about being ‘trapped’. It’d be a waste of fresh air and could effect a historic sport club that isn’t actually causing any harm.
My advise- ignore them, they don’t matter. If they haven”t got the brains to work out how to get out of their not-blocked-off houses where they’re not imprisoned then their opinion is hardly valid.
Where is freespirit? I
Where is freespirit? I thought his cycling prisoner alarm would have been going right off.
Or is he still trapped in his house from the last Ride London 100?
well the crowds as expected
well the crowds as expected are magnificent again !!
These odd moaners should STFU and let those people enjoy it
I shouldn’t worry about
I shouldn’t worry about anything in the York Press, it’s one step away from being handed out free with the supermarket promo leaflets.