No Action on Cycleways in Winter

Remember the correspondent who raised the issue of cycle paths not being maintained or gritted or kept free from overhanging branches.

Well, his UTube video illustrating the hazards has been viewed over 2000 times, and he has had replies from the Netherlands and Germany all expressing surprise about the conditions of our cycle ways.

However there has at yet been no response from Northumberland CC.

He writes: “What to do? The council doesn't seem to bother. May be we should lobby that they don't build any new bicycle paths. If cycle paths are not maintained they provide a false sense of security and suggest to car drivers that we should use them. This in turn makes them more aggressive towards cyclists on the road.”

Cycleways in Winter

A comment received from a local resident:

“As a regular commuter into Morpeth I am shocked about the state of our cycleways in winter. It is not the first time this year that the cyclepath into Morpeth had black ice or was covered in frozen snow. I clearly think we should lobby to have our cycleways cleared in winter. Not only from snow and ice, but also from hedge cuttings. My daughter fell this morning and I know of at least one other cyclist who fell on the Whorral bank cycle path due to icy conditions.”

See a video about this: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=83oo3xH_mqg

I received this on 11th Dec – and forwarded it to the local county councillor, but when I followed it up with the local resident on 4th Jan, he replied:

“I didn't get much feedback from the people I contacted in Morpeth More encouraging was the response from the Cycle Touring Club, who mentioned the video in their weekly newsletter. The video has now been watched 1895 times and I had replies from as far away as the Netherlands and Germany. In both countries they were surprised about the ridiculous state British cyclepaths are in.“

I appreciate that the additional cost of clearing all cycle ways in winter would be forbidding, but I think, we should identify some key routes to be cleared. There seems to be a lot of encouragement from the government for sustainable transport and I wonder if there would be funds available for projects like this.”