“What the hell is the council playing at?”: MP Rupert Lowe claims new cycle lane is “a complete sodding waste of money”; Sport switch? Record-breaking Winter Olympian invited to test with pro cycling team + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"What the hell is the council playing at?": MP Rupert Lowe claims new cycle lane is "a complete sodding waste of money"
Rupert Lowe is the former Reform MP suspended by the party last year amid claims he had threatened then-party chairman Zia Yusuf. Lowe denied the allegations and no charges were ever brought, but now standing as an independent MP for Great Yarmouth he has founded the Restore Britain party. Yesterday, polling by Findoutnow suggested the Farage-rivalling politician is currently polling at around seven per cent and Lowe has stated he wants to “get our country back” if elected.
For now though, Lowe has bigger issues to contend with… a new cycle lane in his constituency…
“This was, and I mean to sound blunt, a complete sodding waste of money. What the hell is the council playing at, honestly?” Lowe wrote on Facebook.
Opposition to cycling infrastructure projects and culture wars-y attacks on active travel were a particular favourite of the former Conservative government, and while Reform leader Nigel Farage has not been quite so gung-ho in his proclivity to make anti-cycle infrastructure statements a part of his political arsenal, Restore leader Lowe appears happy to raise the ‘issue’ in his local constituency.
With that said, Lowe’s former boss Farage did last month suggest Labour’s proposal to lower the drink drive limit was “designed by the Islington cycling classes”.
Anyway, after that whistle-stop-tour through the right of British politics’s current views on cycling, we thought we’d brace ourselves and take a look at the comments to see how Lowe’s post went down.
We were quite reassured to find this ray of reason: “Many cyclists drive cars and many car drivers ride bikes. Good cycle infrastructure makes it safer to cycle and the more people that cycle the more room for cars and the less potholes there’ll be in the long run. The benefits for all of us are endless. It doesn’t matter what it is, there’s always something else the money could be spent on.”
Why are you trying to bring calm, logical discussion to a Facebook comments section, sir?
Potholes were a common topic being discussed, many seeing it as an ‘either, or’ situation. One point we didn’t see was that the funding for these sorts of projects comes from central government and is separate to local budgets for fixing potholes. So, even if a large sum was spent on the cycle lane, that money wouldn’t have been used to fix potholes instead.
Council “scaling back underused cycle lane” to allow more cars on busy route and make “best possible use of road space we have”
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Mathias Norsgaard likes a long stem then…
Scottish Borders Mountain Bike Innovation Centre to receive £15.5m investment from UK government
A major project to build a Mountain Bike Innovation Centre and Trail Lab at Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders has received backing from central government, with £15.5m set to be invested in the project.
The centre is forecast to generate £86m in gross value and will create more than 225 jobs across the south of Scotland across the next decade, according to the News and Star.
The facility will include bike engineering workshops, brand experience units, event spaces, officers, labs and teaching areas, and construction is expected to begin in the spring for completion sometime in 2027.
“It’s great news that main construction works can now get underway on the Innerleithen Mountain Bike Innovation Centre,” Kirsty McNeill, the Scotland Office minister for the UK government commented.
“Opening for business in 2027, the full project — backed by £19 million UK government funding — is bringing jobs and investment to the region and will attract riders from across the country and beyond to a world class facility.”
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"The state of UK roads at the minute"
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Wout van Aert out of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad with illness
Wout van Aert has been ruled out of Omloop Het Nieuwsbald, Visma-Lease a Bike confirming the winner of the 2022 edition has fallen ill.
Van Aert was looking to make his return to racing after a crash that ended his cyclocross season prematurely. In many ways it was remarkable that the Belgian was even in a position to line up on Opening Weekend, however now a different setback has ruled him out.
“Obviously it’s a big blow for me to miss out on my first race, having prepared for the classics season the whole winter,” Van Aert said.
“We had a good training camp at Sierra Nevada and I was feeling really strong. But unfortunately, it’s also that time of the year where it’s easy to fall ill. I remain positive about the feeling I had on training and am confident that I will be able to return to racing soon. Just not this Saturday.”
As we mentioned on yesterday’s blog, no male cyclist has ever won Omloop and Flanders in the same season, and only Johan Museeuw and Greg Van Avermaet have won Omloop and Roubaix in the same year since the mid-90s… so maybe this is all just keeping Van Aert on for him to finally win a big one.
"We’ve loved every minute, especially our customers": Popular bike shop to close after almost half a century serving the community
A popular Lancashire bike shop is closing after nearly five decades serving customers in Penwortham, near Preston. The Lancashire Post reported the shop is set to close, one of the owners, David Butcher, explaining the decision.
“The two remaining partners of three have decided it’s time after nearly 40 years and 50 years respectively between them that it’s time for a new chapter to begin,” he said.
“Retirement is the driver mainly for one of the partners and change for the other. Running a small business in the current climate is becoming harder and harder every year. Rent, rates, permits and tax increases with no improvement’s have taken a toll over the years.
“We walk out with heads high, suppliers and customers all treated the right way. Accounts all settled. One door closes another one opens.
“We’ve loved every minute, especially our customers […] We’d like to thank all our customers over the years for their support and patience. They are an amazing diverse bunch. Just keep on cycling, it’s great for your health and wellbeing.”
Seven years of accumulated tubeless sealant or the skeleton of a long-since decayed carcass?
Sport switch? Record-breaking Winter Olympian invited to test with pro cycling team
View this post on Instagram
The dream of seeing record-breaking 13-times Olympic medallist Johannes Høsflot Klæbo switch endurance sports and come give road racing a go appears to still be alive.
You’d imagine, like triathlon star Kristian Blummenfelt, ultimately the safety of staying in a sport where you’re already one of the best in the world (sorry, the best ever) will be too strong, but Klæbo’s cycling switch from cross-country skiing appears on the table, if he wants it.
Speaking to Velo, Uno-X Mobility boss and former world champion Thor Hushovd revealed he has indeed invited Klæbo to do some testing with the team.
“I told Klæbo last year that once the Olympics were over, he should consider testing a few sessions with the Uno X team,” Hushovd said.
View this post on Instagram
“I’ve ridden with him, and it’s obvious he’s a natural cycling talent. He sits beautifully on the bike, has great control, and adapts quickly. With the engine he has, he could succeed in almost any endurance sport. I’ve always said that Klæbo has an extraordinary physical capacity, something truly unique.”
The Norwegian was one of the stars of the Winter Olympics, winning a mind-boggling five gold medals. It was a clean sweep and a repeat of the five-timer he pulled off at last year’s world championships too. Overall, Klæbo has won 15 world titles and 11 Olympic golds. Staggering… but can he do it on a rainy afternoon at a 1.2 in Belgium? You know you want to, Klæbo.
“There’s still a long way to go”: 4 in 10 London cyclists still feel unsafe in the city
> “There’s still a long way to go”: 4 in 10 London cyclists still feel unsafe in the city
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I.e. that wasn't determined as a result of the 'pick it up and rev it' test. It may just mean they got back to the station and looked it up on the internet, or even that it advertised the output on the motor itself.
It was a road in public park and the spot where she was killed was in close proximity to warning signs to traffic of the need for caution as regards pedestrians. If they had been cycling with due caution it is much more likely that they could have stopped in time and very much less likely she would have been killed.
Cycles are better than cars per urban mile travelled in terms of injuries contributed to, but not by as much as to justify complacently dismissing the issue. I don't think it unreasonable for cycles to be expected to keep below 20mph in 20mph zones. That is a fair lick by any standards on a bike and considerably faster than the vast majority of other cyclists on the road.
Not quite sure how he determined the 2kW thats pretty close to the heat output of a 3 bar electric fire, if it wasn't moving to generate sufficient airflow it wouldn't take long to be glowing red! Certainly the motor couldnt demand and output that kind of power without the resistance of the road against the weight of rider and bike and some frighteningly aggressive acceleration.
@mattw "I think we already have a “safety system” on our roads – that interventions are evidence based." Partially. We can - for example motorway design/rules are a fairly good example of a broader "safety first" approach. (Possible exceptions being the removal of some the hard shoulders to add capacity - more on "capacity" later). BUT contrast what happens on other roads. Particularly our "multi-function" urban roads which act as both "places" (parking, lots of pedestrians about) and "routes" (motorists wanting to pass through). Under e.g. the Dutch system that would be a fundamental conflict of interests which would need to be resolved (streets / roads should serve a single function). There is a fundamentally different starting point: the Dutch system starts from "*everyone* can travel *safely*". But baked into the UK system is the notion of "flow of *motor* traffic" being at least as important as safety. Thus it ends up making it OK to provide for vulnerable road users effectively as an afterthought - and particularly at the expense of their convenience, because that motor traffic capacity is one of the most important things. (In the machinery of local government we have all kinds of metrics related to this which ensure that happens e.g. "journey time reduction" etc. which is what Chris Boardman et al. were looking at). This also helps explain why "our roads are relatively safer than other places in Europe in that context" We have achieved safety by literally driving the vulnerable road users off the streets! As many streets have effectively become roads it then becomes logical to all that they are "for" motor traffic, and people should just get in the car. That has become self-reinforcing. And for anyone left who can't / won't it's "well ... take your chances; or use the narrow footway, wait several minutes to cross the road at the lights or descend into the occasional unpleasant and socially unsafe pit of an underpass..." Note that NL road safety is still very good *despite* having a sizeable fraction of the population cycling, including the rather young and old. (Cycling is (in isolation) probably inherently a little more risky that walking - I don't have numbers though). And IIRC it's safer specifically for *pedestrians* there (despite all those dangerous cyclists...)
In this case, it got to that speed by use of the throttle alone, when power should have cut out well before that, so it's not quite such a terrible test as the one where they turned the pedals and said "there - see - it's doing 45!". That said, reaching more than walking pace with just the throttle should be a fail*, so the actual speed it reached is neither here nor there. [*unless it's ancient]
LeBron's rack just looks like a Canyon LOAD front rack to me - £38 on their accessories page
"Tiger Woods gets five-year driving ban after reckless driving plea" I guess he won't be facing any exceptional hardship... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y7xvpn5kno
@chrisonabike given the incredible efficiency and effectiveness of the DVLA I am inclined to believe him I agree - the Paragons at DVLA have been insufficiently lauded as the best thing since Border Force, and I'm sure they'll get around to BF64 TGE when they get the chance. After all, they and I know where he has lived since 2021. And as for HY66 ZZB... although I don't know where HE lives
21 thoughts on ““What the hell is the council playing at?”: MP Rupert Lowe claims new cycle lane is “a complete sodding waste of money”; Sport switch? Record-breaking Winter Olympian invited to test with pro cycling team + more on the live blog”
I honestly don’t know why the media reports the endless brain farts of Lowe. He’s got even less Parliamentary representation than the Fag Ash Führer. Why do we never hear anything from the Lib Dems or the Greens?
‘Fag ash fuhrer’, that comment’s made my day, thank you.
Likely due to the right wing oligarchs that almost all our media. Even the BBC is right wing and will even frame questions using a far right wing world view when interviewing Greens or Lib Dems (are they even still around?).
Please always refer to him and them as “Muhammad Ziauddin Yusuf” and “Reform UK Party Ltd”.
As we can all guess at what their “beliefs” are on preferred pronouns.
As the serving MP he is *sitting* as an independent MP for great Yarmouth. When the next election comes he will be *standing* for re-election.
(Along with all the other desirable features which have been lost in the upgrade [sic], please can we have the ability to use bold and italics for emphasis back as well?)
Who needs emphasis? You made your point nicely and precisely.
please can we have the ability to use bold and italics for
emphasisback as well?HTML rules are clearly only partially implemented
“”The Norwegian was one of the stars of the Winter Olympics, winning a mind-boggling five gold medals. It was a clean sweep and a repeat of the five-timer he pulled off at last year’s world championships too.””
not sure why the bottom of the post cut off…
The photo says something different….
He got six (6) golds.
1. Men’s 50km mass start classic
2. Men’s 10km+10km skiathlon
3. Men’s 10km interval start free
4. Men’s sprint classic
5. Men’s 4×7.5km relay
6. Men’s team sprint free
Count ’em.
Why would we need to count ’em when you’ve already numbered ’em?
I reckon that tyre has had caterpillars.
Re: Gt.Yarmouth cycle lane.
What’s with the give way markings at the edge of the road?
It looks like another cycle path joining the cycle lane with stop lines for the cycle lane adjacent to the road.
Does anyone have a bigger picture?
Give Way lines should be on the left of the cycle lane as viewed I think, but probably the people marking out the lines in Gt Yarmouth have little experience of cycle lanes.
There will be new entry in the revised and increased version of the Dutch dictionary :
woutvanaerted (adjective), cursed, jinxed
woutvanaert (substantive), bad luck that keeps coming back
Straits of Hormuz closed. Petrol predicted to rise to £2.00 a litre. Let’s see how underused cycle lanes are now!
Alas, the immediate UK response to increased petrol prices after decades of “we have to drive” is more likely to be cycle lanes blocked by drivers!
Those would be a) protesting about paying fuel taxes when fuel prices go up and b) parking in the cycle infra to avoid driving around looking for a legal parking spot.
We collectively missed an opportunity in the 1970s with the oil crisis. That was one of the factors that propelled the course correction by the Dutch.
(The outlines of that story told here.
They were primed by them being a bit behind the UK in the adoption of the car ahead of all other modes. And indeed the bulldozing of cities to make room for it, and the spike in road deaths resulting from it. Plus they still had mass cycling and reasonable public transport. Indeed they already had some “cycle infra” albeit the primary purpose may have been for the safety of moped riders.)
I was around in 1973 and remember the impact that the oil crisis and the subsequent oil price hikes had. That was a missed opportunity; this may be the second chance we’ve been waiting 52 years for. Hasn’t come to that yet, but we need to be ready if it does.
I hope the government displays the correct ‘moral fibre’ attitude and also piles on the Fuel Price Escalator
@wtjs I’d love to be wrong but this current one doesn’t seem to have fibre or indeed any ability to stick to decisions, never mind ones which might be immediately and noisily unpopular.
(The only exception that immediately comes to mind is something they were forced into – taking some belated action on ex-prince Andrew and Peter Mandelson).