“What is being built is not fit for purpose”: NHS workers join cyclists in slamming “last-minute changes” to roadworks plan which severs popular cycling route at busy roundabout, instead adding more lanes to encourage “more and faster” motor traffic

Cyclists in Norwich have been left feeling betrayed after discovering about the council’s plans to “improve” a busy roundabout near a hospital which is going to create a gap in the city’s popular cycling network, despite having been assured as recently as September that the cycle lanes would be part of the new scheme.

The Colney Lane roundabout, next to University of East Anglia campus, acts as the main entrance to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, where two of the city’s Pedalways – the Purple and Pink routes – meet.

Cyclists told road.cc that it is one of the most heavily used sections of the Pedalway network, with a large number of people depend on it to get to work, to attend appointments and to visit people.

In 2023, Norfolk County Council Highways announced plans worth £1 million to make changes to the roundabout, specifically to enable the road to carry more traffic. The original plans shown to Norwich Cycling Campaign removed the current cycle route around the southern side of the roundabout and replaced it with a route around the north, including a Toucan crossing on the northern arm of Colney Lane.

But following subsequent discussions, the campaign was assured by the council that both the northern and the southern cycle routes would be part of the scheme as recent as September. However, owing to the poor quality of the images shown, the campaign decided to file a Freedom of Information request to obtain a copy of the approved plans.

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Upon receiving the full details of the new scheme, cyclists were shocked to find out that both the southern and northern cycle lanes are not being kept. Having crossed over at the Toucan, cyclists are expected to dismount for the crossing of the main hospital access road and walk their bikes all the way around to the cycle track by the southern arm.

Colney Lane severed cycle route (Norwich Cycling Campaign)

Peter Silburn, chairman of the campaign, said: “The crossing of the eastern arm of the roundabout is being relocated further away from the junction some way along Colney Lane. It will be an uncontrolled crossing, not even a zebra crossing and so will be especially dangerous at night. This will join a narrow footpath following the edge of the road which will then link to the existing shared-use route on the hospital side of the road. There will be no cycle connection between Colney Lane and the hospital.

“It hardly needs pointing out that the hospital is a major destination for commuter cyclists and this will only continue to grow. The extension of the Pink Pedalway along Hethersett Lane together with the massive housebuilding taking place will create huge demand for a safe, attractive and convenient cycle route.

“The lack of a cycle route will encourage some people to cycle on the road, a road made more dangerous by these changes, which are expressly designed to enable more cars to drive faster through the junction.

“The Pink Pedalway has been severed at one of the busiest sections on the Pedalways network. For the first time a gap will have been created in the network.

“Clearly no thought whatsoever has been given to people arriving by bike. How this got through the approval process is hard to understand. What is being built is not fit for purpose and needs to be urgently rectified.”

Pink and Purple Pedalways, Colney Lane, Norwich (Open Street View)

“Once again, cars have been the main thought here and more vulnerable road users penalised and sidelined. Very disappointing.”

Tom Woods, an NHS member of staff who often uses this cycle route, said: “I cycle the route regularly from the city to the hospital and with these plans the roundabout section will be more dangerous for cyclists. It’ll be a nightmare either having to ride with multiple lanes of busy traffic or having to get off and push and mix with pedestrians on a busy footpath. Cyclists seem to have been an afterthought at best.”

Kate Lucas, an NHS Physiotherapist, said: “These plans are unacceptable for cyclists who commute to the hospital by forcing them to dismount and walk. The crossing is an extremely busy roundabout where there is no shaded cyclist priority area at the junction to make it safer. This is an ideal opportunity to make the junction safer for cyclists by giving them priority and widening pedestrian/cycling paths which need to be joined up. Once again, cars have been the main thought here and more vulnerable road users penalised and sidelined. Very disappointing.”

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A county council spokesman told the Eastern Daily Press: “The scheme developer has assured us that the cycleway is being retained and although there will be pinch points on the southern side of the roundabout, the path will continue to be shared use to the new crossing facility.

“Safety is paramount at such a high-profile and busy location and this scheme will deliver significant benefits in terms of enabling active travel for pedestrians and cyclists.”

In March this year, another junction in Norwich became the site of battle between the cycling campaign and the Conservative-led Norfolk County Council when cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport Graham Plant suggested that cyclists avoid a busy junction which is not “designated as a pedalway” and instead stick to other routes.

However, cyclists conveyed fears that cycling was being made “more dangerous by design”, pointing out that this would mean that they were left even more unprotected than before, with the cycle lane along the junction being disjointed, stopping and starting at random without any connectivity.

Last year, Plant’s decision to disband a committee of councillors which met publicly to discuss highways projects, replacing it instead with a steering group that will hold meetings in private — as meetings of the Transport for Norwich joint committee were all too often mired in controversy — also came under fire from cyclists, who described it as “outrageous” and said that the perceived lack of transparency will “erode public trust”.