Should Rupert Lowe – leader of the fledgling Restore Britain party and its only MP – ever become Prime Minister, a new video has given fresh insight into how the MP for Great Yarmouth would approach cycling and active travel. Jabbing his finger at a recently installed cycle lane in Gorleston-on-Sea, Lowe claims it “has ruined a perfectly good road”, condemning Norfolk County Council over the £500,000 it reportedly spent on the scheme using the government’s Active Travel Fund.
Lowe, who was voted in as Great Yarmouth’s MP as a member of Reform UK before being suspended, becoming an independent MP and subsequently forming his own party, first targeted the scheme back in February, calling it “a complete sodding waste of money”.
After a mixed response on social media, with some trying to convince Lowe of the benefits of cycling infrastructure, the former owner of Southampton FC has posted his latest denouncement on various social media platforms to reiterate his disgust at how the council has spent the pre-allocated funding.
> What to expect for cycling if Reform UK get into power
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“This is an example of central planning lunacy by Norfolk County Council”, Lowe says in the video.
“A bicycle lane that’s very rarely used. I’ve declared bicyclists a rare breed here.”
Some of Lowe’s social media followers criticise Norfolk Country Council for misusing funds, with more than one accusation mentioning “backhanders”. Lowe’s reference to “central planning lunacy” suggests an awareness that these funds were allocated by the government, though he says that lunacy is “…by Norfolk County Council”.
Sharing the video on X, well-known camera cyclist Cycling Mikey described Lowe as “a very stupid little boy”. RS Archer added: “Man upset by cycle lane, seen later in day shouting at clouds.”
In April, some Gorleston locals told the Metro about their experiences of the new mile-long cycle route. Sue Bowman, who works at the Rose Garden florist that Lowe is stood in front of in his video, claimed the lane had made the road “very unsafe”: “I don’t like driving on it now. The lanes you drive on are too narrow, and the road is so narrow because the cycle lanes have been put in. We are still getting people parking in the cycle lanes, and people don’t know where to park”, she told the Metro.
In a statement, Norfolk County Council said: “As with all road improvements, the changes take time to bed in and for people to get used to them.
“These upgrades will provide safer cycle access between South and North Gorleston, serving the local college and town amenities. We have also improved the safety of crossings for those travelling on foot.”
It’s not the first time cycling in Gorleston has made the news. Back in 2013, campaigners said that plans to scrap a local bylaw that prohibited cycling on both sections of the town’s promenade could lead to “potentially dangerous” situations involving cyclists and pedestrians.
The council lifted the ban permanently after a successful trial period, noting that there had been zero reported incidents between cyclists and pedestrians along either section.
32 thoughts on ““I declare bicyclists a very rare breed here”: Restore Britain MP Rupert Lowe slams council for installing “very rarely used” cycle lane in his constituency”
Looking at Google Streetview, B3170 Middleton Road in Gorleston-on-Sea used to be a two lane road with double yellows and some parking bays outside the Rose Garden.
Now it’s still a two lane road with double yellows an some parking bays outside the Rose Garden. And now has a bike a line. [Insert Shrug Emoji].
https://maps.app.goo.gl/P4ej3yvSsoupPHn19
But but you tell me how on earth are drivers expected to get that (checks Google) 0.8 miles through the town with any reasonable speed*?
Without taking the A47 dual carriageway antisocially barging its way through the town, and pretending like there wasn’t a “network in practice” for motorists with a parallel street / road about 100m either side?
Dual carriageway *through* a town. Did someone say “central planning lunacy”?
@open_roads
I wonder if they still have the same 30 minute parking, no return within 30 minutes. To enforce this they would need a CEO to observe the vehicle once, then again within 30 minutes, and then a third time within 30 minutes of the second time and more than 30 minutes since the first time. If they timed it well could return after say 28 minutes and wait around for a few minutes – but it seems like a very inefficient system… still, better than 1 hour no return within 30 minutes (try and figure out how that can be enforced).
If any Norfolk cyclists wants to show him that cyclists are far from a rare breed in Great Yarmouth It’s only 3 miles from this spot to his constituency office. A few hundred cyclists turning up at his constituency office would shake him up a bit.
No. Even though it’s not a question.
(He’s not special though – many if not all candidates shouldn’t either).
Lowe is totally vile in many, many respects.
My issue is that his anti-cyclist hatred is a key part of the populist right-wing movement exemplified by his former party. they have a serious chance of winning elections, and when they do, cyclists won’t be too far behind ‘immigrants’ as the target of hatred and nasty policies.
Lowe is totally vile in many, many respects
Yes, it’s like the French Revolution! The bad ones keep being challenged and outbid in nastiness by worse ones. We’ve had Theresa May’s Nasty Party, then we got the Very Nasty Party, and now somebody for whom the Very Nasty Party wasn’t nearly nasty enough. Clearly, Great Yarmouth and environs are places to avoid if you don’t drive everywhere, as there are a lot of people who voted this nutter in.
Hey if billionaires want to throw money at splitting the fash vote in a FPTP voting system who am I to complain?
I take a tiny sliver of solace that whilst his former party may depressingly see gains, this particular desiccated nugget of faecal matter is unlikely to return to Westminster come the next GE.
I highly doubt it was gleaming wit, nuanced manifesto, and general dedication to the Great Yarmouth constituency which got Mr Lowe that job role, so much as the cuLt of personality of the £5M-backhanding, tax-dodging toad of a figurehead of the party Mr Lowe found to be “too soft”. After all, what’s accepting a multi-million pound -bribe- private donation, compared to misappropriating crowdfunding money to start a new fascist schism under the guise of “investigating the grooming gangs scandal”
If I thought there was a chance of encountering feral Lowes along a cycle lane I wouldn’t use it either. In fact, I might just avoid the whole general area to be on the safe side.
You don’t need to avoid the area, just add a little extra something to your equipment…
I may have missed it (it’s far from me) but I’m not aware of an increasing death toll of people driving there, nor that it is now impossible to travel between there and Lowestoft. Or that people are endlessly driving round the town until the fuel runs out.
Is the translation of this:
“I don’t like driving on it now. I now have to drive slowly and carefully in this built up area – which I didn’t bother to do before. People don’t know where to park because they were used to dumping their cars immediately outside their destinations. Normally without thought about who it would impede. That is, apart from other motorists, who they intuit might hit their car through carelessness, or get very angry because that was *their* double-parking space.“
Just on a streetview safari… checking out the “look we built a cycle path” (alleyway plus paint and sign) just off the roundabout at the Southern end. Good start… (a good place for a game of spot the cycle infra).
As open_roads points out, where did they illegally park before?
Also noting there is evidence of a fair number of older folks. Between that, the steep hills of Norfolk seaside towns and the notorious months of winter blizzards they suffer this may explain why it’s not possible for residents to cover the huge round trips of a couple of miles to amenities outside of driving. And thus why it’s such a car-infested place.
BREAKING NEWS!: Fascist party targets minorities.
Proper central planning would have made the path straight.
This is so absurd and so ridiculous. Imagine if the twit made the exact same video but instead of saying cycle lane said, “pavement”. Look how this central planning pavement has ruined a perfectly good road. People, every single person, would think the guy is nuts. Because it’s a cycle lane, however, a good many people will agree with his preposterous premis. And who the fk uses the word ‘bicyclist’ anyway?
My usual suggested response to anyone complaining about “empty cycle lanes” is to get them to look at most pavements and bus lanes.
Hardly ever at capacity.
So should we get rid of (or not build more of) them?
They hate bus lanes more than they hate cyclists…
I declare extreme shite wing politicalists with any vision beyond creating divisions with minority groups, a very rare breed indeed.
Lowe is a desperate indictment of our failing nation. Frothing hatred, picking on a more vulnerable group, dribbling out nonsense that stands no scrutiny, getting airtime for it.
We’re screwed.
Does he stand next to railway lines whining in fake outrage about the lack of trains using them most of the time?
Still makes me smile that the success of a cycle lane is based on how busy it is, while the success of a new section of bypass is based on how there’s no queues of cars on it.
“I declare bicyclists a very rare breed here”
Why am I imagining that being said in Sir David Attenborough’s nature documentary voice?
Probably more like a bull roar.
@mitsky As a rare breed, should they not do all they can to protect them. They should probably start by banning motor vehicles from the entirety of Norfolk.
@jh2727 More likely to turn them into prime cuts to be sold at a premium, I’d have thought.
If Rupert is against something it must be something worthwhile.
He’s easily the most ridiculous MP in the UK.
How Lowe can you go? Ask Southampton FC fans what they think about this man’s business acumen. He was too right wing even for Nigel Farage. I see Lowe’s LinkedIn posts regularly and how he hasn’t been banned from the platform yet astounds me.
Could be wrong but perhaps Lowe is more against crappy infrastructure than anti-cycling. Will go youtubing and check.
Near me there’s a new cycling lane and it’s horrible. Some ⅔ mile long it has 6 junctions opening onto it with ramping at either side then it does some funny meander around a new pedestrian crossing which has extra lights being installed that’ll make frequent wide load drivers journey a nightmare.
Oh! And just where you could’ve done with some cycle friendly work doing the road narrows but has quite a few sunken areas surrounding grates and access hatches meaning you end up cycling further out into the road.
The local time triallists hate it and say they won’t be using it which means there’ll likely be conflict between them (+ others) and motorists.
There’s plenty more . .
I’m not against cycle lanes but they don’t seem to be designed by cyclists.
I’m suggesting they are more anti-motorist than pro-cycling.
Lowe has done sterling work on the grooming gang outrage. I’m the opposite end of the political spectrum but believe his efforts to be little short of heroic.
Cycle lanes exist for the benefit of cars, because if cars didn’t exist, we wouldn’t build cycle lanes