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New Forest rider and pony (CC licensed by iNew Forest:Flickr)New Forest MP calls for regulation of sportives and limits on numbers of participants
A Hampshire MP has called for sportives in the New Forest to be regulated, with the local council given powers to determine when events are held as well as the number of cyclists participating in them, saying that the area “is a living, working forest, not a theme park.”
Dr Julian Lewis, the Conservative MP for New Forest East, made his appeal during Thursday’s debate in the House of Commons on progress made in implementing the recommendations of the Get Britain Cycling report, published last year.
While he acknowledged that cycling is “integral to the public profile of the New Forest,” he claimed “a major problem has arisen in relation to cycling” there due to growth in the number of people participating in events such as sportives.
“We have had mass cycling events in the New Forest for many years, and they caused no difficulties whatsoever when the numbers concerned were in the order of 500 or 600 participants – that is quite a lot when thinking about rural roads,” he said.
Noting that unlike road races, sportives are not regulated by statute, he went on to say that participants “are competing not against each other but against themselves.
“They are seeking at all times to better the speed and time with which they complete quite lengthy cycle rides in the New Forest, and that brings obvious dangers and disadvantages to other road users and to the livestock of the New Forest.”
Pointing out that “ponies, donkeys and cattle have the right of way on public roads, and motorists and cyclists do not,” he said, “unless these major events are regulated — hopefully with a very light touch — there are obvious dangers of clashes, accidents and the generation of ill-feeling.”
He added that “the antipathy and poisoning of the well, caused by the clashes over those mass cycling events” was one of the factors behind the New Forest National Park Authority’s decision not to go ahead with a planned cycle hire scheme funded by money from the Department for Transport.
Labour MP Ian Austin, who led the debate and is co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group, asked Dr Lewis who else he thought “should be prevented from coming to the New Forest: the people who want to walk around the New Forest or to run along its roads, or is it just cyclists that he thinks should be regulated off the roads of the New Forest?”
In response, Dr Lewis explained, “No one is talking about anyone being regulated off the roads. On the contrary, we want them to be regulated on the roads. That is precisely the demand the communities in the New Forest are making, because the New Forest is a living, working forest. It is not a theme park.”
Outlining his proposals, he explained: “The sensible arrangements are that the local authority should have the power to determine the frequency of these events, that it should have the right to limit the total numbers participating in the events, and that the participants should wear some form of identification, probably numbering, so that where there are mass events and incidents occur — let us be frank about this, sometimes incidents of an aggressive nature do occur — then there can be no question about misidentification.”
He added: “It is really unfortunate that the attitude towards cycling in general by the representatives of the national park and the community in the New Forest has been so damaged by this dispute over mass cycling events that cycling is getting a bad name.”
The MP concluded by urging transport minister Robert Goodwill to put reserve regulatory powers in place to address situations such as clashes between mass cycling events or with pony drifts, in the hope that “the New Forest and cycling will once again be bracketed together harmoniously, rather than as a source of dissonance and friction.”
The minister, however, made no reference to Dr Lewis’s remarks when addressing the chamber at the conclusion of the debate.
On the issue of Dr Lewis’s claims of the danger posed to livestock by cyclists, there have been no recorded instances of an animal being killed or injured in an incident involving a bicycle in the last 15 years.
According to detailed records from the Verderers of the New Forest, there have only been two such incidents in which a bicycle was involved during the past three decades, one in 1998, the other in 1999.
The vast majority of incidents take place during the hours of darkness and involve private cars, with the motorist more likely than not to be a local.
This month’s Wiggle New Forest 100 sportive passed off without incident, despite fears having been raised by New Forest District Council’s safety advisory group about a clash with the CTC Wessex Gridiron 100 event the same day.
In May this year, British Cycling called for sportives to be regulated after a video emerged of a route clash between one such event and the Yorkshire Regional Road Race, with some participants in the former ignoring a marshal’s instruction to stop riding while the race passed.
A spokesperson for the governing body said the footage “is a perfect illustration of why the lack of any form of calendar co-ordination and regulation around sportives is a serious concern that needs to be urgently addressed.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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30 comments
There clearly is a problem in the New Forest that needs sorting and there are always idiots on both sides of any dispute. Who has the most idiots or the more idiotic idiots is irrelevant. What is important in resolving a dispute is to find some common ground with some give from both camps.
This local MP has offered up some solutions and the delivery didn't seem imbalanced so not sure why some ranters are getting on his case. There does need to be a laid down published format/regulation of some sort that everyone understands and has to accept to protect the cyclists as much as anything.
As someone who has been punted off the road by a careless, clueless driver I whince at the thought of what that would be like if done deliberately by some vigilante nutter.
fret wrote
'Let's face it, a 2 tonne car hurts, so numbers should be limited.'
I'm all for limiting numbers of 2 ton cars that hurt,
or is that not what you meant...?
What the fuck is going on with the world?!
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Politician completely missing the actual issue. Yes, there occasionally a large number of bikes on the road. That's occasionally, not every day. Besides, having ridden the Wiggle 100, the non-cylist road users were, generally, very accepting of me and my friends on our bikes. Couldn't see what all the fuss was about. OK, there were a couple of nutters. But, there were none of the drawing pin / shotgun antics that we were expecting.
Sadly I agree with the writer as there are simply far too many bikes on the road at one time which creates frustration with car drivers. Let's face it, a 2 tonne car hurts, so numbers should be limited.
And yes, I have ridden the New Forest Sportive.
There never has been and never will be such a thing.
I'm not visiting anytime soon, with or without my bicycle. Better places to go (like France where they like "us")
As an organiser of cycling events I find this article a bit worrying.
Regulation of events has it's own problems and opens up a whole load of issues for the future of cycling and other mass participant sports.
It is time that organisers got together to talk about these issues.
If you're a cycling event organiser and agree get in touch.
http://twitter.com/srsevents
I live in the New Forest and have ridden it's roads and tracks for over 30 years but unfortunately due to the current ill-feeling towards cyclists I don't participate in any of the local sportives for this very reason.
I was riding home recently after a Sunday morning club run and was very nearly knocked off of my bike by a close overtaking manoeuvre by a motorist. He gave me the finger to which I returned the compliment and he stopped in front of me. I confronted him and asked what his problem was and he told me to get off of the f'ing road and that he was sick of 'us lot' using the roads. I told him that we all share the same roads so we should all be a little more patient and considerate to each other to which I just had more abusive language thrown at me. It transpired that there was a sportive around the Forest the same morning to which he probably thought I was part of! (His number plate, for the record, was 'P7TER' and he was driving a white Audi, so you have been warned!)
Personally, I feel that his opinion is shared by many living in the area as they are not used to cyclists in the volume seen in the last few years using the roads so frequently on 'their' doorstep. The problem is that quite a few of these so-called locals only appear at the weekend after a week in the 'City' and clog up the roads themselves at the weekends!
Rant over.
You've said enough right there.
I actually agree to some extent with the idea of more careful scheduling of events. How many big sportives hit the NF each year?
With that vehicle description & number plate it should be possible to bring his 'antics' to light in the local press, if not to report him to the police. With his close pass & general demeanour, it is a definite case of reckless driving & road rage... REPORT IT NOW!!!!
+1
Is it April 1st
This MP's comments are laughable, I cannot believe he is actually holding a position of responsibility.
So cycling events should be regulated and numbers controlled? Down deep in the New Forest is a little museum at a place called Beaulieu, which has events which car clubs turn up to, usually in convoy. Perhaps the MP would like to see these banned and numbers limited too
Oh and as for the comments about it being a Theme Park, I thought the purpose of NATIONAL Parks was for people to enjoy the beauty of the outdoors. If the New Forest is not, then it should be stripped of it's National Park status and protection removed. Now don't we have a shortfall of housing, I can think of a place with plenty of space to build
I once went on a cycling holiday in the New Forest with my family. We stayed in Lyndhurst. Lyndhurst is ruined and made miserable by the sheer volume of motor traffic constantly coming through. If the New Forest's people really think it's cyclists that are spoiling the place, they have really lost all ability to pay attention to their surroundings. I wouldn't consider going back.
I live just down the road in Fareham and have made a point of not going to new forest just because of this bad publicity, we used to visit a number of good restaurants and pubs, but not anymore. They can keep there miles of traffic jams and I hope these small minded local choke on the fumes.
Michael Hutchinson was making suggestions last night on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Doctor_Hutch/status/524270771494203392
I know, but it's 250 miles away and would take me about 22 hours to ride there...
...I understand that it's about political soundbitery, and that the place is essentially a place in the country for those who can commute up the M3, but it puts me off.
A spokesperson for the (British Cycling) governing body said the footage “is a perfect illustration of why the lack of any form of calendar co-ordination and regulation around sportives is a serious concern that needs to be urgently addressed.”
If I recall correctly BC were involved with both events in some way, so perhaps co-ordination rather than regulation is the problem
He added: “It is really unfortunate that the attitude towards cycling in general by the representatives of the national park and the community in the New Forest has been so damaged by this dispute over mass cycling events that cycling is getting a bad name.”
It is not cycling that is getting a bad name but the New Forrest as a holiday/recreation destination.
Like all politicians he'll say what he thinks his constituents want to hear as he knows it'll be reported in the local press, they'll be pleased with his view, and they'll vote him in for another term riding the Westminster gravy train.
Unfortunately in New Forest East he's got no real competition, Liberals used to run a close second but can't see that happening in the 2015 general election.
No, it's not a "theme park", but, and the clue is in the name, it IS a National Park. Which means it should be open to all, as it's funded by everyone.
Exactly. Nothing to stop you going around the National Park on a pogo stick, if you wanted to. Just not a bicycle, clearly.
As other posters here have said, the problem is too many people moving into that area who want it to be their own private little piece of rural (-ish, obviously, don't want to be too far from the City) heaven.
Woa, hang on there.
Sportive participants DO carry a number. Why is rider identification even flagged here? This is why I think this is about cycling in general, and sportives are just perceived to be a soft target to attack first.
Hang on - has the real reason why this scheme was canceled just been confirmed?
Farsical
Clear anti-cycling bias.
Someone needs to tell this MP that if they are promoting an anti-cycling agenda, then they are PROMOTING (by simple extrapolation of statistics) :
More pollution
More traffic congestion
More road deaths
More spending on NHS (ironic for a Tory!)
And this 'working forest' fluff is an outrageously pompous statement - the whole countryside is a 'working landscape' - infact the urban areas a 'working' too.
Do they plan to restrict cars from the NF? Do they plan to restrict other events which will attract visitors and cars into the NF?
I live in the South west, where we have three areas of open moorland, with freely roaming animals, and sportives across all of them, and we seem to get on just fine.
Is he proposing regulating cars, and as it is a "working forest" I am sure he would agree that all holiday homes should be compulsory purchased so that local workers can live and work in the area?
I agree in that sportives have become big business and I can see issues if there are a constant steam of events in the same area, the same as in the surrey hills. That's it though. I don't do many sportives but on those I have ridden I haven't seen cyclists taking risks to get a good time, they are just out riding their bike on an organised event.
Lets face it, its the cars that kill the local animals, not the cyclists, so if we have a cull on sportives, lets have a cull on total visitors.
According to the article, most cars involved in accidents with animals were driven by locals, so surely the MP should be advocating a cull on the locals?
Won't someone think of the ponies?
I don't have any list of places I'd prefer not to ride my bike, but the New Forest could well feature should I decide otherwise.
Given that I'm not only a cyclist, the publicity generated by the hopefully few influential nimbys has also put me off visiting for any other reason too.
You do realise this is the kind of attitude that they are trying to create in everyone who doesnt live there? Its a local park for local people.
The best thing to do is go there at every opportunity and ride your bike all around the park.
I live just few miles from the New Forrest and ride there at every opportunity, More so since the argument started. I did the sportive recently and enjoyed it very much indeed with the locals and visitors alike being patient and encouraging to the riders. When I ride I always acknowledge walkers, horse riders and drivers as fellow enjoyers of the National Park, it seems to me now to have more people smiling and enjoying the Park.