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Cycling ban poster in Brigg and Scunthorpe (North Lincolnshire Council)Council “escalates war on cycling menaces” with new town centre ban, saying: “We will not stop until we eradicate this behaviour”
A local council says it has “escalated” and “intensified” its “war on cycling menaces” by implementing a complete ban on riding a bike in pedestrianised zones, as part of a wider crackdown on anti-social behaviour.
North Lincolnshire Council announced this week that a new Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) is now in place in Scunthorpe and Brigg, following a public consultation earlier this year, introducing stronger powers and increasing fines for what the local authority describes as the “scourge” of “irresponsible behaviour”.
In Scunthorpe and Brigg town centres, cycling is now completely banned, with anyone caught riding a bike in pedestrianised areas set to be immediately handed a fixed penalty notice of £100. According to the previous PSPO, cyclists could only be fined if they refused to dismount when approached by an officer.
The total cycling ban comes as part of a suite of toughened anti-social measures, which also include the outright ban of drinking in the street and greatly increased fines for littering, fly-tipping, neglecting waste duty of care, and graffiti.
“We will not stop until we eradicate this behaviour,” Rob Waltham, the leader of the Conservative-controlled North Lincolnshire Council said in a statement, issued under the headline “Council triples fines as war on fly-tippers, litter louts, and cycling menaces intensifies”.
“People need to use one of the thousands of bins provided, get off their bikes and push, or dispose of their household waste responsibly – it really is not that difficult.
“We have repeatedly asked people to stop doing these things, we have repeatedly told them how their behaviour impacts on others and, while we are starting to see some changes, it is clearly not enough. Local taxpayers will not pick up the bill for irresponsible behaviour.”
John Davidson, the local authority’s cabinet member for communities and urban added: “We consulted earlier in the year on stronger measures to tackle the scourge of anti-social behaviour and the response from the public was overwhelmingly in support of tougher action.
“The vast majority of people don’t make the area a mess for others or cause problems – but for the few that do we are going to hit them even harder in the pocket, clearly they have not listened to our requests, pleas, and demands.
“The Government provided the opportunity for us to increase the fines for these offences, residents have supported us, and we have done.”
However, when the public consultation was launched earlier this year, the proposed ban was heavily criticised by disabled cycling charity Wheels for Wellbeing, who argued that they had the potential to “deepen discrimination against cycling as a mobility aid”.
Nevertheless, Waltham maintained that the PSPO “has enabled us to protect vulnerable communities by targeting anyone creating a nuisance or putting themselves and others in danger”.
“The new measures will enhance those protections and I make absolutely no apologies for doing so,” he said.
> Cyclists warned city's new e-bike ban will be "clamping down on any cases of reckless behaviour"
The newly implemented cycling ban in Scunthorpe and Brigg is one of many that have come into force in town centres and pedestrianised zones across the UK in recent years.
Earlier this month, a controversial ban on e-bikes in certain pedestrianised parts of Coventry city centre was introduced, with the deputy leader of the council warning that riders can expect strict enforcement.
The new ruling, which prohibits e-bikes and e-scooters being ridden through sections of the city centre, was approved last month, as Coventry City Council passed a PSPO despite protestations from the West Midlands’ walking and cycling commissioner Adam Tranter, who argued such a ban would “discourage cycling and penalise responsible cyclists”.
Last February cyclists in Bedford staged a ride protesting a “discriminatory” town centre bike ban, while this summer Hammersmith and Fulham Council introduced an e-bike and e-scooter ban along part of the Thames Path.
A pensioner in Grimsby also made headlines when he told the council to stick its £100 fine for cycling in the town centre “up your a***”, saying he would “rather go to prison than give them £100”.
That particular town centre ban in Grimsby has attracted quite a bit of attention in recent times, with some locals accusing the council of targeting the “old and slow” and cyclists “they can get away with” for fines.
Wheels for Wellbeing, while criticising a councillor’s “get off and walk” advice to town centre cyclists, also called for clearer signage which specifically states that people who use standard cycles as mobility aids are permitted to ride in pedestrianised zones, which they say will both reassure disabled cyclists and help reduce the risk of confrontation between pedestrians and people on bikes.
And last month, police in Nuneaton said they had asked the council to introduce a no cycle zone to cut out “really dangerous” cycling and “anti-social behaviour” in the shopping area, saying that “we get a lot of kids wheelie-ing through and it sets the wrong tone”.
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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77 comments
I blame the Lawless Cycling Collective (Elsie), the militant faction of the Evil Cycling Lobby. They also have connections to the sinister Cycling Mafia. Be careful out there.
Will you please explain what you mean by " gammon" tendency please?
Brigg and Scunthorpe have very wide pedestrian zones in the town centre there is absolutely no need for this policy. I can "sort of" understand the need in Grimsby a little more as it's a narrower and far more of a traditional bustling town centre than the other two. Also Grimsby the situation in the centre is already better for peoople on bikes as it has an alternative road running parallel to it, it's a shared space that is predominately buses and taxis as much of the car traffic has moved elsewhere.
I cycled through the high street in Brigg on Sunday, must have been about 10am, it was completely dead, not a soul in sight. I will continue to cycle in such areas where unjustifiable measures such as these are present.
Good to hear some local knowledge, thanks. I don't know which of the disputed areas the picture above shows but my first thought was that looking at the cars there is literally room for a six lane motor highway through there, no way you could fit in a 2m cycle path? Isn't that one of the main problems with these pedestrianized areas, that there is no guidance for where cyclists should go and so pedestrians feel an exaggerated threat with riders appearing to come from all directions? It's pretty cheap just to paint a cycle lane on the pavement and if it's properly signposted 99% of cyclists will stick to it.
Tory culture wars. Uggh.
Interest to see not mention of CUK or British Cycling being involved in any of the discussions. Do our national organisations care?
Dunno about British Cycling, they're ... more sport-focussed.
I suspect CUK care if you do ... enough to do some thankless work. AFAIK they are not "the cyclists' union". I'd like it if there were one ... or actually, maybe not quite ("cyclist" after all - though I'm happy to pay CUK and get their insurance and the magazine).
It seems CUK pick up on some local campaigns to highlight some bigger issue at national level. Can't fight all the battles and it probably makes most sense where a) there a sustained local campaign doing the leg-work and b) there is some hope of some shift in attitude / policy.
Of course this selectivity causes resentment. Perhaps sometimes all you can do is "be the change ... "
I am not even sure it has anything to do with whether they care. They can only be involved in discussions with the permission/invitation of the local council(s) involved, it isn't like they can insist on being involved.
They can comment on these things publicly (and I believe CUK have previously commented on these issues) but cannot simply inject themselves into a process. If a council wants to rid its town of the "cycling menace" I am not sure CUK are the kind of organisation they will want to talk to about how to do it.
Weird comment. Just scrolled down and see others have responded. Form a Brigg Cycling Campaign, or join it if it exists
"We will not stop until we eradicate this behaviour,” Rob Waltham, the leader of the Conservative-controlled North Lincolnshire Council said in a statement, issued under the headline “Council triples fines as war on fly-tippers, litter louts, and cycling menaces intensifies"
Cllr Waltham is doing many of us a favour, by imforming anyone who tries to cycle instead of driving, to be lumped in with fly-tippers and litter louts in his region.
Instead, one should drive, feel free to park on the pavement, or avoid Scumthorpe and Blight altogether.
There are a growing number of councils across the UK that focus on anti-cycling measures, not youth-related problems, but fail to address widespread driver selfishness. Probably because the baying voters with pitchforks are all drivers.
Im looking forward to the App that highlights these backward boroughs so I can avoid visiting them.
In light of dreadful events occurring in the world, I find the language used by the council disgusting.
Unfortunately, and with 50 years of cycling as my main transport, lumping an embarrassingly large proportion of cyclists, of all demographics, along with flytippers etc is very valid. I also developed some data mining tools for Newham Council Enforcement Service for a year or two before retiring in 2018. The rise of aggressive reckless behaviour is a real thing. Car speed limits attempt a blanket restriction of bad driving, even on clear roads at night. Quite reasonable, if annoying to us, to blanket restrict cyclists due to the dangerous recklessness of many, not just a few
And your statistical evidence for this "real thing" is…?
We need a chart!
(Perhaps people are fly-tipping cyclists and that's irritating them? Or the cyclists are fly-tipping but it's not cooling their tempers?)
Well said , All demographics where i live its about respect and commonsense which is sadly lacking in some people today.
Except that it's not a restriction, it's a ban - reckless driving doesn't lead to a ban on all cars.
Any sensible cyclist would slow down in a pedestrianised area - the ones who don't are the ones who need to be curtailed
Your experiences in a London borough are not representative of cyclists as a whole. (General behaviour in large cities is generally worse than elsewhere)
This always goes the same way
Someone carefully and slowly riding along in the pedestrianised zone will be likely to stop when asked and hence gets a fine
Your averge yobbo wearing a blck hoodie, black jeans and trainer will just laugh and ride off - no way to identify them and if you try to catch them you have no chance
So - people that are causing no problem get a fine - the ones who are causing the problem are not affected
The whole point of this crackdown is to get headlines for the tories, not whether the measures are necessary or effective.
Motorists walking in pedestrian zones complaining about dangerous cyclists!
And why not? Get off an walk. Like all laws a few selfish sods spoil things for everyone but do people here complain about that? Pedestrian zones are never very long. Walk. I do ea h way daily. If you commute through one leave home earlier. If you are one in a million who can only move by riding not walking then you can happily just say so to who ever stops you.
Just where is the problem?
Just one of the reasons why I despise the modern cycling movement. Such disgusting self entitlement.
Oh I don't know - their first album was quite good.
It turned out that MCM were weirdly big in Brazil.
Big in Japan, surely?
Quite right, they need to eliminate the dangerous and offensive shorpe from Scunthorpe (do I have you right?).
'Modern cycling movement' 🤣 Meanwhile nearly 500 people a year are killed or seriously injured by drivers on pavements and pedestrian areas - every year in the UK. Where is the same draconian measures to fine pavement parking? Is it because Tory councillors only drive? Locals who only drive...quick to grab their pitchforks whenever cyclists are mentioned 🤦🏻
Hammer bad car use and bad bicycle use. Not an either or thing
When does the crackdown on bad car use begin?
Also, you may notice that this crackdown is on any bicycle use - they don't care whether the cyclist is causing a problem or not.
'Just one of the reasons why I despise the modern cycling movement. Such disgusting self entitlement'
you wouldn't give us the other reasons would you? Just out of interest.
Imagine a scenario where a certain stretch of your walk to the shops had been blighted by a few youths indulging in antisocial behaviour. In reaction to this, the authorities close the street to all pedestrians and you have to walk 500 m further around the block. Would you say that's absolutely fine and a perfectly proportionate response, I'll just be leaving home earlier, or would you say that's ridiculous, I'm a law-abiding pedestrian, why am I being punished for the behaviour of a few youths?
Or old disabled people in heavy powered buggies that can do 10+mph in pedestrian areas
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