Cyclists can’t reach proposed active travel route due to town centre bike ban, as “crazy” plans slammed as “white elephant” that will not benefit cycling

Proposals to install a new toucan crossing near Bedworth town centre, as part of a planned ‘Green Corridor’ for active travel connecting a park to a new leisure centre, have been dubbed a “white elephant” by one local councillor, who claims cyclists won’t be able to reach the crossing thanks to the town’s bike ban.

Cycling campaigners have also criticised the plans, arguing that the pedestrianised town centre – located just 60 metres away from the proposed shared-use route – exposes a “glaring problem” in the scheme and will mean “very few cyclists” will use the new crossing.

However, the local authority has insisted that the current restrictions on cycling will not be removed, while further plans to clamp down on “anti-social behaviour” by people on bikes in Bedworth town centre are currently being considered as part of a proposed new Public Space Protection Order (PSPO), a year after a local police officer claimed that “kids wheelie-ing around” and cyclists “rifling through” town centres were “setting the wrong tone” in the borough.

Earlier this month, Warwickshire County Council announced its intention to install a toucan crossing, where currently only a pedestrian refuge island exists, on Sergeant Simon Valentine Way in Bedworth.

The location of the proposed toucan crossing on Sergeant Simon Valentine Way

The modifications to the junction will form part of a ‘Green Corridor’ for Bedworth, consisting of a shared-use path which will provide a car-free link for local residents from the popular Miners’ Welfare Park to the new £30m Physical Activity Hub.

However, the scheme’s apparent aim to provide a route for people on bikes to the leisure facility has been roundly criticised by local cycling campaigners, who have noted that the pedestrianised area on Bedworth’s High Street prevents access to the proposed shared-use path and toucan crossing for cyclists travelling from the south of the town centre.

“Bedworth has traditionally been hostile to cycling, something that is very obvious when reaching the pedestrianised area of the town centre just 60-odd metres away from the new shared use path, where cycling is banned,” the local cycling activist known as Bicycle Ben wrote on their Fiets blog.

“If the intention is to simply make a connection between the town centre boundary and the Physical Activity Hub, there’s no problem except very few cyclists will be using the new crossing. If the intention is as stated, however, to enable local people to access the new leisure centre without a car, this is a massive issue.

“Without the broader network through the town centre and out to the north of the town, this new shared-use facility with its toucan crossing cannot properly attract people to try cycling. So, what’s the benefit of it? Why spend the money making this tiny change but with limited appeal?”

Bedworth’s ‘no cycling’ zone (in red) and where it joins the proposed green corridor (in green)

In a letter to Warwickshire County Council opposing the specifics and “cohesiveness” of the scheme, which he also criticised for potentially putting cyclists and pedestrians into conflict on a shared-use path, Ben argued that the plans “as it stands cannot realise any benefits for cycling given there is no connectivity”.

“There are no legal cycling options for notable travel north beyond the scheme through Bedworth town centre where there is currently a ban on cycling,” he wrote in the letter.

“While Warwickshire has aspirations to open the pedestrianised area to cycling as detailed in its Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan, these proposals are not under active consideration and are not part of this scheme. The scheme is also not cohesive with broader cycling journeys that do not require the town centre connection.

“For anyone who does happen to cycle on the short section of High Street that is open to cycling and wishes to connect with the Miners’ Welfare Park, they may consider it easier and potentially quicker to ignore the scheme and make the road connection to the park as signed for the Bedworth Sports Club.

“In this event, if the scheme doesn’t necessarily capture cyclists that may be at the location, nor does it otherwise enable new journeys by cycle, there seems little benefit or value for money in providing it.”

Bedworth High Street pedestrian zone (Google Street View)

Meanwhile, at a cabinet meeting at Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council this week, Green Party councillor Michele Kondakor echoed Ben’s complaints and described the toucan crossing as a potential “white elephant”.

“The new pedestrian toucan crossing is crazy,” Kondakor said at the meeting, Coventry Live reports.

“A toucan crossing, by definition, is for pedestrians and cyclists but there is no way of actually cycling to get there. You are not allowed to cycle through All Saints Square and through the centre of Bedworth, you have got to go all the way round.

“So you are not going to be at that crossing point. It’s not a particularly hard place to cross because cars have either slowed up to come up the hill or they are already slowed down because of the roundabout.

“I have never actually had a problem crossing there. Cyclists cannot cross there, it seems like a white elephant.”

Kondakor continued: “There actually needs to be crossings put in places where it is actually dangerous to cross, where people have been killed up by the Griff roundabout.

“I know this is different funding but it seems to be crazy spending the money on this. The money that is being spent on this crossing would be better off put into the leisure centre itself.”

> "We get a lot of kids wheelie-ing through": Police claim danger of "anti-social behaviour" should be tackled with town centre cycling ban

Despite these criticisms, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council has said there are no plans to lift the ‘no cycling’ restriction through Bedworth town centre as part of their ‘Green Corridor’ plans, while Warwickshire County Council said it is not currently working on proposals to “open up the area for cycling” included in its walking and cycling plan.

The issue of cycling in Bedworth town centre is also currently being deliberated upon as part of a proposed Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) in Bedworth and nearby Nuneaton, which aims to tackle anti-social and nuisance behaviour in the borough, and strengthen the towns’ respective cycling bans.

However, while many PSPOs are employed as a means of fining people for riding bikes in any manner through pedestrianised areas (an outcome which has attracted widespread criticism in recent years), Nuneaton and Bedworth’s proposed PSPO will focus on only those who ride in a “malicious and/or dangerous manner as to cause harassment, alarm or distress to any person within the area” (though, of course, the extent to which something can be deemed malicious or dangerous is open to interpretation).

Nuneaton town centre 

The call to introduce a cycling-focused PSPO in the Warwickshire borough was first made last October by Nuneaton police inspector Kris Shore, who told a council scrutiny meeting that officers want more power to stop anti-social cycling in the town.

“We did a lot of engagement around the Knife Angel [a sculpture in Nuneaton], we were in the town centre quite a lot and we had people on push bikes just rifling through the town,” he said. “For me, it is a pedestrianised area of town, and it is really dangerous to be riding straight through there.

“We get a lot of kids wheelie-ing through and it sets the wrong tone. It is ASB (anti-social behaviour) in itself for me. We have asked the council to see what the scope is, from our point of view, to ask them to make it a proper pedestrianised area.

“So if you are on a push bike, riding it through the town, you have to get off your bike until you get to the other side of the limit of the pedestrian zone.”