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Leader of Hampshire County Council says it can’t regulate New Forest sportives

No animal accidents involving cyclists since 2008, says park authority

 

In a direct contradiction to threats made by his predecessor, Hampshire County Council leader Roy Perry has said that the council has no power to regulate sportive rides in the New Forest, and is fully committed to supporting cycling in Hampshire.

According to the Southern Daily Echo, Councillor Perry said: “Neither the district or county council have legal powers to restrict large-scale cycling events.”

Councillor Perry’s remarks come after Councillor Ken Thornber, whose role as chairman of the council is largely ceremonial, recently said: “Competitive cycling is changing the character of the Forest for the worse. If the organisers don’t agree to enforce a code of conduct it falls to us – the local highway authority – to take action to regulate these events.”

Councillor Perry said event organisers already cooperated with the council.

He said: “We do endeavour to work with event organisers across Hampshire on traffic management plans, which include issues around briefing participants, signage, speeds and duties of marshals. In general these are effective in managing any traffic and safety issues. But the production and implementation of such traffic plans is purely voluntary on the part of event organisers.

“The concerns of local residents relate very much to the scale and local impact of larger cycling events attracting thousands of riders to particular areas, which is disruptive to everyday life and business in the local community.

"In this regard local councillors are quite right to raise legitimate concerns on behalf of residents.

“Any event which brings thousands of people to an area, whether they are on foot, two or four wheels, needs to be carefully managed to limit the impact on the local community.”

Risk to animals

The effect on wildlife is often cited by New Forest residents as a reason for their opposition to large-scale cycling events in the forest.

However, the New Forest National Park Authority has no record of any animal accidents involving cyclists.

Nigel Matthews, the head of recreation management and learning for the New Forest National Park Authority rtold road.cc: “The Verderers’ Office keep a database of all animal accidents reported to them; the current system dates back to January 2008. I have checked and there are currently no incidents involving cyclists on this database.”

Traffic control measures in the park have steadily reduced the animal toll over the last few decades, but that trend seems ot have reversed this year.

Mt Matthews said: “Sadly, this year has so far seen an increase in animal accidents (mostly caused by car drivers) so we anticipate that the end of year statistics will not be as ‘good’ as the last three years.”

Events such as the Wiggle New Forest Sportive organised by UK Cycling Events also bring substantial economic benefits to the area, according to organiser Martin Barden.

“The last event alone provided a financial benefit of £325,000  to the local economy,” he said. “We also wish to continue promoting cycling in the National Park which is in line with its aims of providing enjoyment for all.”

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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zanf replied to congokid | 11 years ago
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congokid wrote:
boardmanrider wrote:

Cyclists on the Continent, France and Belgium especially, garner so much respect from motorists. The result? They have become great cycling nations.

Well, I'd argue that without any respect, the UK has somehow become a great cycling nation - if you're only counting TdF stage wins and World and Olympic gold medals.

A few golds and a couple of TdF wins, a cycling nation doesnt make.

This country has a funny history with cycling. Racing on the roads was banned for years after WW2, so races were carried out secretively and were individual time trials whereas on mainland Europe, you've had a hundred years or more of peloton road races as well as track events that have a carnival atmosphere about them.

Cycling culture is ingrained into European culture in a very different way to how it is in the UK. I would say that the (general population of the) UK has a similar attitude to that of the US: cycling is something you grow out of when you can finally learn to drive.

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