Council “scaling back underused cycle lane” to allow more cars on busy route and make “best possible use of road space we have”

Reading Borough Council says it is “scaling back” what it claims is an “underused” cycle lane, as part of plans to ease the pressure on the road network on one of the town’s busiest routes – by adding an extra lane for cars and enabling more motorists to use the road.

According to the local authority, the proposed changes to Reading’s cycling infrastructure would “reflect demand on the local transport network” while “making the best possible use of the road space we have”.

The two-way cycle lane in question, located on the southbound carriageway in Sidmouth Street, east of the town centre, was initially installed as a temporary measure during the Covid-19 pandemic, replacing one lane of a hitherto two-way street, after two cyclists were killed in Reading in one day.

It was made permanent in September 2022 as part of plans to build a network of connected cycle lanes in Reading, despite attracting some criticism in the local press, who dubbed the infrastructure a “white elephant”.

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However, according to the council, the infrastructure has been “underutilised” since, thanks to what the local authority says was a lack of available funding required to link it to other nearby cycle routes in the town.

In 2023, the council’s application for Active Travel England funding to connect the Sidmouth Street cycle lane with the National Cycle Network 422 scheme at Kennetside was rejected, though the local authority insisted at the time that it would aim to “deliver these improvements as and when new funding opportunities arise”.

Despite these assurances, this week, in response to an ongoing review of Reading’s transport network, carried out in a bid to “improve the overall performance of the road system”, the council announced that it plans to shorten the existing cycle lane on Sidmouth Street.

Under these plans, the bike lane would only be retained south of the South Street junction to London Road. Sidmouth Street would then be reconfigured to two lanes for motorists from London Road, increasing to three lanes between South Street and Queens Road.

In a statement issued this week, the council said the proposed changes would “introduce expanded capacity for vehicles travelling towards the town centre” and “pave the way” for an already-approved new bus lane on London Road, which the local authority says will “improve public transport reliability and journey times”.

“The proposed expansion of space for general traffic on Sidmouth Street would help cater for any displaced vehicles,” the council added.

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And according to Reading’s lead councillor for climate strategy and transport, John Ennis, the decision to rip up the bulk of Sidmouth Street’s cycle lane will ensure that the local authority is “making the best possible use of the road space we have”.

Ennis also claimed that, as well as improving journey times for bus users, the bus lane will create a “safer” shared space for cyclists no longer able to use the road’s dedicated cycling infrastructure. However, despite first being approved in January 2024, no date has yet been set for the construction of the London Road bus lane.

“There is a lot of pressure on the road network around Reading and this is one of the busiest routes in the town,” Ennis said in a statement.

“The council is always reviewing the transport network and it makes sense to ensure we are making the best possible use of the road space we have.

“Due to the lack of funding available to connect the existing Sidmouth Street cycle lane to other routes, it is understandably underused and there is decent alternative nearby provision well-used by cyclists.

“This change will retain some cycle provision but also increase capacity to cope with any displaced traffic as a result of the new bus lane due to be introduced on London Road.

“As well as improving public transport journey times and reliability, the new bus lane will create another shared space and safer route for cyclists travelling westbound towards town.”

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The plans will be recommended to members of the Labour-controlled council’s Traffic Management Sub-Committee on Thursday 5 March, and if approved will be subject to a public consultation.

This week’s transport overhaul isn’t the first time Reading Borough Council has complained about a lack of funding for cycling-related projects – or the first time the Sidmouth Street cycle lane has attracted controversy and criticism.

In 2023 the local authority criticised the Conservative government’s decision to slash the active travel budget for England, after only one of its three projects aimed to improve walking and cycling conditions in the town received funding.

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However, a Green councillor responded to the complaints by criticising the local authority’s plans, claiming that its proposal to expand the Sidmouth Street cycle lane would have simply duplicated an existing route instead of connecting Reading’s “disjointed” cycling network.

Sidmouth Street, of course, isn’t the only cycling infrastructure in Reading to come under scrutiny in recent years.

In 2023, a newly installed cycle lane on Shinfield Road, between Christchurch Green and Shinfield Rise in the south of Reading, became the subject of local and national ridicule almost immediately, after a council video extolling the benefits of the supposedly ‘segregated’ infrastructure was interrupted by a motorist driving a van straight over the bike lane.

The video then showed the van driver veering back onto the road at the last moment to avoid hitting the oblivious council official.

That particular cycle lane also attracted criticism for its bumpy surface and elevated sections which disappear before junctions, spitting riders back out into traffic, with one local cyclist describing it as a “good initiative badly implemented”.

And a huge puddle on the cycle lane, located just before a set of traffic lights, prompted complaints from numerous cyclists throughout 2024, with some claiming they had to swerve back into the path of drivers to avoid it one rider reportedly being “nearly knocked off his bike” by a motorist as he was unexpectedly forced to exit the bike path.

Meanwhile, in December, in another part of Reading, a local councillor admitted that an “accident hotspot” roundabout, which has seen over 70 crashes in the past 25 years, had not been identified as an issue until a cyclist was killed – because the incidents had happened at “multiple locations around the elongated roundabout”.