Faversham councillors keen to rid town centre of ‘arrogant and fast’ cyclists

A Faversham councillor has said that he wants to rid the town centre of ‘arrogant and fast’ cyclists. Speaking at a Local Engagement Forum meeting earlier this week, Ted Wilcox claimed that many local cyclists are ignoring traffic regulations and represent a threat to pedestrians.

The comments came after Conservative councillor Anita Walker claimed that a pedestrian had once been killed by a cyclist in Preston Street.  According to Kent Online, Walker said it was time to take action and Wilcox agreed with her.

“They are really dangerous. They go down the wrong way and I believe that no cyclists have ever been prosecuted for doing so. We want to stop the arrogant and fast cyclists in the town centre. We see it every day that someone is almost knocked over.”

A local cyclist attending the meeting, Tim Stonor, disagreed and said that banning cyclists would be a regressive step.

“Towns and cities throughout the UK are positively encouraging greater levels of cycling because they see cycling as part of their sustainability strategy, part of their economic regeneration strategy and part of their health strategy. 

“Rather than victimise people who choose to cycle we should be encouraging a culture of civilised behaviour throughout the town.”

Conservative councillor Bryan Mulhern said that he had no problem with ‘the cyclists who amble gently through the town’. “We should be encouraging them. But it is these others, who go the wrong way and who go way quicker than cars during the daytime who we need to stop.”

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The meeting also heard from community safety unit sergeant Jason Hedges, who said that police were keen to support the introduction of 20mph zones in the town.

“We are trying to encourage areas in Faversham to take up a speed watch system. The council need statistics to start thinking about implementing a new speed limit and we need to find out who is doing the speeding. The speed watch system can be used to persuade highways to temper the speed limit around the town. We would like to support the campaign for the 20mph speed limit.”