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news
Alveston Hill cycleway proposal (South Gloucestershire Council)"Who the hell is going up there on a daily basis, unless they happen to be Chris Froome?": Councillor slams hilly cycle path plan and claims those who do use it will be "flying up and down" using it as "racetrack"
In a likely first for cycle lane complaints a Conservative councillor has suggested that only locals with four Tour de France yellow jerseys would be up for regularly tackling the hill it is to be situated on, but also that "all sorts of people" would be "flying up and down that hill using it as a racetrack".
Councillor Paul Hughes expressed his doubts to Gloucestershire Live over the new path that has been approved in the county, and asked: "Who the hell is going to go up there on a daily basis, unless they happen to be Chris Froome?"
Despite his apparent belief that the path will not be attractive to all but the most talented cyclists, Hughes then went on to claim it will be overrun with "people using it as a leisure thing with youths and all sorts of people flying up and down that hill using it as a racetrack".
The local politician's evidence for the claims was to state: "I nearly got run down this morning by a youth, dressed in black with a hoodie on, on an electric scooter."
The comments concern a new path that has been approved by the council (run by a Liberal Democrat-Labour coalition) that will link Thornbury and Alveston, providing a surfaced off-road alternative to the steep and narrow road nearby.
Andy Whitehead, who is part of the council's transport department, told Bristol Live that many people don't see cycling the road route as "a viable option" as "it's too dangerous".
"This proposal seeks to address that, providing a safe, comfortable and attractive alternative to Thornbury Hill. This is a distance that many people can and will travel if the conditions are right," he said.
"Many people can't drive and rely on parents or other people to drive them around, and this particularly impacts young people. [Cycling] is a very cheap and reliable mode of transport which has huge benefits on health and the environment."
However, perhaps unsurprisingly given the outrage from certain sections of the community that inevitably follows the unveiling of such proposals, the local press has also heard from an outspoken local who claimed "security" and "anti-social behaviour" are a "major concern".
"Our major concern is security. There will be many more people walking, cycling and gathering along our boundary, some of whom will no doubt be using e-scooters. Avon and Somerset Police have raised concerns about the risk of anti-social behaviour along the route, and especially around the seating areas," Nancy North said.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
Latest Comments
- Geoff H 7 sec ago
Perhaps they should apply the same standard to dangerous, unsafe, poorly designed roads and COMPLETELY rip them out rather than "fix" or "redesign"...
- Zermattjohn 6 min 38 sec ago
I know you're after readers, but if you could avoid quoting/parroting the MEN on any story, that would be good. Particularly one involving complex...
- Destroyer666 22 min 59 sec ago
Although the article does not make this clear, the Cybertruck reference is not made by Ingrid, but just some person stating their opinion on the...
- chrisonabike 35 min 16 sec ago
Taxis in bus lanes? That's nothing. Edinburgh can boast bus lanes with car parking spots specifically marked within them! (Example - two here)....
- wtjs 1 hour 9 min ago
Just like pushing a sore tooth, it's sometimes worth looking at these comments to see just how thick thick people are. Last night on the BBC NW...
- Jules59 1 hour 10 min ago
Comparing road fatalities per 1 billion km driven then Australia has about twice the death rate of the UK....
- brooksby 3 hours 3 min ago
And that's the thing. It's the motorists who are creating the danger, and yet they think it is everybody else's problem to solve.
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"Our major concern is security. There will be many more people walking, cycling and gathering along our boundary, some of whom will no doubt be using e-scooters. Avon and Somerset Police have raised concerns about the risk of anti-social behaviour along the route, and especially around the seating areas," Nancy North said.
Bearing in mind this is a council, do they have problems / issues with large crowds waiting at the county border trying to get in (or maybe out) of the area
I think Nancy North is a resident and not a clouncillor, so she is mostly likely talking about her garden fence, and not the border with Bristol City council.
(typo left in because it amused me)
Conservative right-wing politicians and logic...
Mind you, if they had any logic they wouldn't be conservative right-wing in the first place.
Absolutely disgusted down here in Tunbridge Wells. The level of incompetence shown by Councillor Hughes, clearly he should have said Pogacar - not Froome!!!
Tory councillor complains about being overtaken by a youth on an illegal scooter. Despite his party claiming to be party of law and order having been in power for 14 years. Allowing legal sale of items which are illegal to use.
Difficult to tell from the photograph, but is that going to be smooth tarmac for pedestrians and a bumpy gravel path for cyclists?
I think it's an artist's/AI's impression, rather than a photograph, but looks to me like it's intended to be coloured/textured surfacing, not gravel.
What is a bit peculiar, though, is the seating area, positioned on the cycling side of the track, and apparently made out of the same material.
That's going to have a small cafe built next to it for the cake stop for all those cyclists to recover from the exertion of the hill and brag about their Strava position on it.
Is it a UK thing where we can't be consistent about colour cues for roads, pavements and paths? It seems such a simple concept to me - use different colours for different users/traffic.
Hallelujah! In fact all we need do is pick one for cycle infra. Then just apply that everywhere. Simple.
But... another one where Douglas Adams was spot on about the British character.
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9521045-what-about-this-wheel-thingy-it...
(In fact in NL they do have a smattering of variation and I think it's not actually mandated. But being sensible most people understand the point of a convention. Apparently this doesn't work in the UK - or is it that cycle infra is both unimportant so not worth thinking about standards AND possibly lots of people actively don't want attention drawn to it - see bike sheds? )
I wonder this also when I see photos on here of bike lanes painted blue or green or whatever. In NL our bike lanes are pretty much always painted that iron oxide red, but...outside my office in The Hague the bike lanes and pavements are all made from the same rust red colour blocks, with almost zero demarcation between bike lans and walking areas.
Yeah there are a few - people always want their local exceptions ("our historic town" - but the cars and roads and traffic lights don't look historic...) or designers trying to be novel as always.
Rotherham main street:
https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2021/05/19/rotterdam-takes-an-importa...
A park - effectively "shared space" in NL so I guess not being red makes sense: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2019/10/16/the-a2-motorway-no-longer-...
I have seen videos with surfaces to match the local brick colour but can't find a link ATM.
Again, not mandated, but now it's a recognised convention, plus the cyclists' Union will be in touch if you have wacky ideas (this has happened and at least one place was persuaded to stick with the standard).
Here's Edinburgh, still finding novel ways of getting it wrong. This is the new section by marine drive (W. Shore Road) - despite this not being a through road * or going anywhere they have only managed to find space a foot of "separation" between the cars and bikes. But they made *that* red! 🤪
On the other hand they've separated the dangerous bicycles from pedestrians... then made several special crossing points 🤦♂️
I guess in NL this might be a bicycle street.
* When the travellers have moved on - can't stop them! Indeed for a year the section behind the image was blocked off to cars - until the planters were not just vandalised but destroyed.
Just another hate filled tory saying anything and everything to stop others from doing stuff and just trying to control.
I still find it incredible how anyone can take them seriously.
Why is it always a Tory?
Do you know what? I was about to comment exactly the same. Why, whenever a politician says something dumb about cycling, is the politicians' name always prefixed by Tory (or laterly Reform)
They believe in identifying the pillocks interested in hillocks.
@alchemilla tbh it isn't always a tory. I have heard both Labour (Hull) and Green (Stapleford, Nottingham) also say anti cycling stuff similar. Just drivist mentality believing that more cars equals more money spent.
Is there some sort of competition amongst the tories to see who can be the most out of touch with reality? Councillor Paul Hughes comes a close third after JRM and Suella.
Man walks on footpath, gets passed by someone on a electric scooter, and then says that a separate cycle path shouldn't be built next to the footpath. Impeccable logic.
Much as I'd like to mock... ebikes will go up easily and, of course, quite a few folk will get up it. Then, if anything like SE London, there'll be big blokes with heavy loads blasting down at 40mph. Being 69, I'm often in parks and on paths with friends and family from 6 months to 80 years who are becoming terrified of reckless cyclists
Quite right. And they should close the road mentioned too, since no doubt there's motorised traffic going up that, and people blasting down it at (over) 40mph as well.
but but licensed drivers in registered motor vehicles couldn't possibly be a source of crime and anti-social behaviour...
https://road.cc/content/news/serious-assault-saw-cyclist-pushed-bike-307711
https://road.cc/content/news/police-appalled-killer-laughing-gas-driver-...
Not half as terrifying as reckless motorists. I can assure you of that.
Why is 40mph reckless?
Do we have dimensions and gradients?
Truly they walk amongst us.
Totally out of touch with reality, there is no way Chris Froome could be considered a "youth" these days!
Apparently taken at the last Tory party conference 😱
New version of Schrödinger's cycle path. Both so exclusive that no one except grand tour winners will use it, yet will also suffer from "all sorts" using it.