On the seventh day, did God create cycling infrastructure? That may well be the subject of upcoming sermons across north London, where plans to build a new “safe, easy, and continuous” bike lane have been criticised by one disgruntled local vicar, who says the proposed scheme will block access for parishioners and even prevent hearses from pulling up outside the church.

According to the Rev. William Gulliford, the vicar at St Mark’s, an Anglican church located in Primrose Hill, just outside Regent’s Park, Camden Council’s bid to install a new two-way cycle lane at the front of the church has also been carried out in a “slightly underhanded way”, despite the local authority’s plans to hold a full consultation on the project this year.

The proposed cycle lane outside St Mark’s forms part of the local authority’s existing Cross-Camden-Cycleway scheme, which aims to create a “safe, easy and continuous way to cycle in either direction between Islington in the east at York Way and Westminster in the west at Prince Albert Road at Primrose Hill”.

“There are already lots of high-quality and safe cycle routes for people wanting to cycle roughly in a north/south direction in this area of the borough, but we know that getting across Camden east/west in either direction isn’t as easy,” Camden Council said in a statement announcing the plans last year.

Cross Camden Cycleway Plans
Cross Camden Cycleway Plans (Image Credit: Camden Council)

The final section of the Cross-Camden-Cycleway will link Camden Town and Primrose Hill, and will also potentially lead to the installation of better crossing points and wider pavements, as well as additional trees and plants to, the council says, “create healthier, safer, more attractive and inclusive streets for everyone”.

At St Mark’s Square, where the church of the same name was established in 1851 at the top of Regent’s Park, the council aims to create a “safer crossing and healthier environment for people walking, wheeling, and cycling”.

The local authority also says it will explore ways to “reduce traffic using the area as a cut through, plus improving the look and feel of the area with changes such as widening pavements, adding green spaces, and adding places to sit and rest”.

> Regent’s Park to get new pedestrian crossings as part of crackdown on ‘dangerous’ cyclists

However, those proposed changes have come under fire from Rev. Gulliford, who claims the prospect of people on bikes being protected from traffic outside his church could have a detrimental effect on funerals.

“It was just a complete surprise,” vicar told the Times. “How are people going to get to church? How is everyone going to get out? And how will a hearse pull up outside the church and then be able to take the coffin out?”

While insisting that he was not “objecting to changes”, Gulliford also criticised what he claimed were the council’s “very unclear” proposals, and their potential impact on accessibility.

“It’s very difficult to see what they’re actually proposing on the website. The fact that nobody consulted us about it was just a bit tiring. About 900 people have also objected,” he said. “It was questionable how people are going to continue to access the church, and my issue was why push this through at a time when nobody can really object? It felt surreptitious.”

Last year, Camden Council held an online survey designed to gauge local opinion on the plans, which attracted over 600 comments. This feedback will be used to “design a set of ideas for making it easier, safer, and more enjoyable and accessible for people to travel on this area”, the details of which, once finalised, will be unveiled later this year ahead of a full public consultation.

> Vicar who claimed “church is under threat” from bike lane now blames cycle route for congregation “getting lost” and plummeting attendance

Nevertheless, while once again clarifying that he wants to see “fewer cars in London and more cyclists”, the Anglican clergyman doubled down on his assertion that the cycle lanes plans have been introduced in a clandestine manner (a suspicious stance that could, perhaps, be a hangover from the Church of England’s battle against the ‘secretive’ Tractarian, Catholic-leaning Oxford Movement in the 1850s, when St Mark’s was first founded. Or maybe not).

“I just don’t like when things are done in what feels like a slightly underhand way,” Gulliford continued. “I’m sure it was thoughtless. I don’t want to cast aspersions on anybody. All I’m trying to do is just make sure people can get to church.”

Following this criticism, councillor Adam Harrison, cabinet member for planning and a sustainable Camden, told the Times: “I have shared with local residents who have written to me that we will not close St Mark’s Square.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Camden Council said: “We will continue to listen to residents, businesses, community groups and faith organisations as we consider next steps, with no decisions being taken until all engagement feedback has been fully assessed.”

> Enforcing cycle lane would prevent drivers from parking (illegally) outside Presbyterian church, claims Dublin elder

Of course, this isn’t the first time that a cycling-friendly secular local authority has come into conflict with its ecclesiastical counterpart.

Last year, road.cc reported that a vicar of a church in Greater Manchester claimed that a cycle lane is causing his congregation numbers to plummet because worshippers “have been getting lost” due to the infrastructure.

St Margaret's Church car park
St Margaret's Church car park (Image Credit: Google Maps)

Reverend David Murray, the vicar of St Margaret’s Church in Altrincham, had previously complained that the 170-year-old institution was “under threat” from a cycle lane and that its “bells have been ringing out since the mid-1800s… [but] now we face extinction simply because of a crazy traffic system”.

A year later, after the “awkward” bike lane was introduced on Gorsey Lane, the vicar claimed it had left the “completely isolated” and its worshippers “lost” (surprisingly for a clergyman, he wasn’t speaking metaphorically).

Howth Presbyterian Church cycle lane
Howth Presbyterian Church cycle lane (Image Credit: Alan Betson)

And back in 2022, a Presbyterian church in Dublin also criticised plans to segregate an existing cycle lane from traffic, claiming it would prevent worshippers from continuing to park – illegally – outside the church.