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Velo North Launch 4.jpgPublic meeting demanded over Vélo North closed road sportive
With a little more than four months until the inaugural edition of the closed-road sportive Vélo North is due to take place, parish councillors in Teesdale have called for a public meeting to be held amid concerns of the impact the event will have on local communities.
The event, which is expected to attract 15,000 cyclists to the north-east and with 50- and 100-mile route options was launched in February with the support of Durham County Council.
The call for a public meeting was made at a meeting of Middleton-in-Teesdale and Newbiggin Parish Council by councillor Bob Danby, who also acts as joint project manager for Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services (Utass), reports the Teesdale Mercury.
He said: “There was a petition brought into Utass by a shop proprietor in the village. As a result of that I went to speak to him and he feels quite strongly about it.
“We were also pushed by another parishioner down at the mart who felt very strongly about it. Obviously, the farmers up the dale are quite concerned about it as well.”
He explained that he had spoken to the chairman of the parish council, who had agreed to hold a public meeting about the event’s impact, and would be inviting the event’s organisers.
“I have also spoken to [county councillor] Ted Henderson who, if we hold a meeting, would be prepared to attend,” he continued. “He is quite concerned about it.”
“I have also spoken to Ed Turner, who is the police inspector, who would like to come along to see what the depth of feeling is – but it is outside his remit to do anything.”
He also suggested that Eggleston Parish Council be involved in their meeting, but its acting chairman, John Miller’s response was that it should be hosted by Utass given that the largest impact of the event was felt to be on farmers.
He added: “I don’t think there is a better way now because I think it is a done deal. But if they want to know the strength of feeling I think by all means and I am sure a lot of people will attend.”
Councillor Danby concluded by saying that the person who had raised the issue with him was worried that the event might result in hostility towards cyclists.
“The person we were speaking to, she is a keen cyclist and she is up in arms,” he said. “She said it will turn people against cyclists. She said the same thing happened after the last event.”
Another councillor, Nickie Hough, said that the main concern was that the timing of the event would see roads closed for the best part of a day.
“If it was a race fine, but it isn’t a race, it is a ride out. You can ride it any weekend free, and it is beautiful.”
Councillor Sue Bainbridge added: “The Tour de France, they are professional cyclists who go through in a big pack.
“So these would be like me setting off from Durham and, God forbid, trying to ride a hundred miles. I’d probably be back at 10 o’clock at night.”
As a number of stories we have published here on road.cc over the years show, closed-route sportives do tend to attract small but vociferous opposition from some locals who raise concerns about the effect on local businesses and residents due to road closures.
Such opposition can at times result in attempts to sabotage the event itself, for example through sprinkling tacks on the road or changing or removing signage, although equally it should be pointed out that plenty of people support events of their nature, which benefit local economies, provide a motor traffic-free environment for the day and a carnival atmosphere.
Vélo North’s sister events, Vélo Birmingham and Vélo South, both attracted similar opposition when they were unveiled, with changes made to the route of the former ahead of its debut edition two years ago.
> Velo Birmingham saboteurs fail to spoil day for riders and locals
Last year’s event was cancelled ahead of a relaunch for this year with a new route and name – Vélo Birmingham and Midlands – while what was due to have been the first edition of Vélo South last year was cancelled at the last minute on safety grounds due to forecast stormy weather.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- Patrick9-32 5 min 23 sec ago
Ask the reasonable ones, tell the unreasonable ones through peoper enforcement.
- brooksby 12 min 35 sec ago
I wonder how they are objectively defining "causing public offence"? Seems to me likely that their Enforcement Officers will simply tell all...
- ubercurmudgeon 12 min 42 sec ago
It is very easy to make an e-bike look like an aero-bike if you only post side-on views. Take a photo from anything other than precisely 90 degrees...
- OnYerBike 13 min 35 sec ago
No - as per the article, the setting allow you to receive messages from 'Following,' 'Mutuals' or 'No One' - i.e. at the very least, you have to...
- Rendel Harris 23 min 13 sec ago
Quite, sounds like not very much but a 25% improvement is pretty massive: if the world marathon record had undergone a similar change since 1968...
- bigwheeler88 30 min 16 sec ago
If only the pig policeman had been close passed while on the bike. Then maybe they'd finally understand and appreciate what we go through every day.
- Paul J 30 min 19 sec ago
Holy crap at that shirt! My eyeballs are bleeding AND I'm going to have nightmares!
- bigwheeler88 31 min 58 sec ago
Utter moron. Cyclists have the right to be in the middle of the lane, as they should be. Other road users (we're talking cars here) have the duty...
- chrisonatrike 53 min 35 sec ago
25mph cruise speed? Sounds like Nigel's celebrated courtesy and politeness finally reached breaking point...
- Jigzy99 1 hour 7 min ago
Have you tried the local press? They love a good 'police not doing their job' story. May just kick them into action.
Add new comment
15 comments
I was all for the Velosouth event last year, despite it being on roads I ride all the time. I could possibly have ridden to the start and back and done the event, it was that close.
But the amount of negative publicity and reaction it caused had me seriously wondering if I was going to take part. The vocal minority (and we are talking less than 10 people I think) that managed to whip up such feelings was remarkable. They had people complaining that "they would be trapped in their own homes for 12 hours" which was blatantly untrue. What about the emergency services etc etc...
15,000 participants versus 2 NIMBYs and this plumb then goes around drumming up hatred.
Etape Loch Ness last weekend saw a pretty major thoroughfare closed for a few hours and trades up there loved it as it gave business opportunities and raised shitloads for charities...
I don't know if the Velo organisation do this, but if they aligned with a charity then all objections could quite easily be guilt-tripped away!
Meanwhile in Italy, a week apart:
http://www.dolomitesbikeday.it/en/
https://www.sellarondabikeday.com/en/news.html
The difference is, in the Continent people seem to celebrate the idea of roads being free of traffic for a day. They get out and enjoy it.
Who wouldn't want a day in their area when the roads were closed... imagine the peace, the notion that your 8 yr old could ride down the road to a mates house without fear of them being terminated by someone driving whilst checking their social media feed.
Nothing is that important that with a bit of forward planning you can't work around a road closure. Or if you really do have to drive Great Aunt Agnes to hospital I'm sure they could sort you out...
What do these people do when it snows?
Complain about the snow. Haven't you noticed?
Reminds me of the Day of the Tack at the Etape Caledonia all those years ago. I mean, fancy dropping thousands of people (you know, the kind that spend decent money on a bike) into your area for the weekend, fill every hotel, B&B, hostel and campsite in the region, book out every restaurant and fill every cafe, route them through your best countryside so that they might return one day.
What a complete disaster for the local economy.
This story comes a week after the London Marathon.
I dunno, maybe it’s something about the north, but I’ve lived on the London Marathon route for 25 years and I’ve never heard any of London’s farmers complaining about it.
Here's another way of looking at it. I'm an experienced bike rider who is determined to continue riding my bike. But truthfully, I have been bullied off most roads at most times of the day by fear of traffic. I choose my roads and times with the utmost care, and even then it isn't a perfect solution.
You could say that motorised traffic displaces everything else for 99.9% of the time, and so drivers shouldn't grumble about a single day when people on bikes get exclusive use of a few roads.
And yet no one around here complains about the half day the roads are closed for a mass 10k run, the half day plus for a half marathon, the half day for Race for Life or the full day for the local full marathon. Every year.
I understand that more roads are closed for a century than a marathon but closing roads for a running event never seems to generate this type of opposition.
Even in busy urban areas, you don't seem to get complaints about roads being closed for pedestrian sportives (sorry: marathons!). But try and close roads for a cycling event and watch the nimbys arise...
you do in bath. you've never heard such moaning that sainsburys and homebase are inaccessible by car for about four hours
Really? OK, I stand corrected
I'm certainly in favour of mass rides, in fact, along with 4000+ others, I did yesterday's Isle of Wight Randonnee. But closing the roads to the public is another thing altogether and I can't honestly see the justification for it. For high level competition, OK, but for the likes of me to pootle around the lanes, it's not fair.
Mass rides involving thousands of riders without closing roads? How would that work exactly?
They don't all set off together.
They don't all ride at the same speed and soon spread out over several miles.
I can't think of any other reasons just now but clearly in the case of things like the IOW Randonee, those big sportives abroad like Leige-Bastogne-Liege, Tour of Flanders etc. it just works.
I can see the appeal of closed roads but I'm afraid I don't think it's a practical thing to do given the potential impact on the locals especially in rural areas and as quoted in the article I worry about the negative reaction. I've only done a handful of sportives over the years but all my concerns with traffic were related to the poor riding skills on display rather than problems with motor traffic!
Mark.