'We should be creating more safe cycling routes - not scrapping them'
Campaigners will tonight stage a demo and submit a petition calling for plans for a cycle lane in Torquay to be reinstated
Cycling campaigners will tonight stage a demo ahead of a Torbay Council meeting - after plans for a new cycle route were scrapped.
They'll be submitting a petition calling for the four-million pound regeneration of Torquay harbourside to include a cycle lane.
Beth Huntley is the so-called cycling 'mayor' for Torbay - which is not a council position, but recognised by campaign groups.
She said: "I love my car and I'm not going to get rid of it anytime soon. We know you put in cycle lanes and people use them and we know that reduces the amount of traffic and the amount of congestion.
"We should be aiming cycling infrastructure at eight year old children, families, people from all walks of life should be able to get on a bike and ride.
"Sadly we have very little safe cycling infrastructure in Torbay."
The petition can be found here and says: " Cyclists now have two options - to cycle very defensively - taking the lane and holding up traffic in this busy area or to dismount and wheel their bike through this section.
"For some cyclists, their bike is their mobility aid so this second option is discriminatory against them. For many, the road will feel unsafe and so they will choose to cycle on the pavement anyway."
Ahead of the meeting, Torbay Council say it was not an 'easy decision' and was based on site constraints.
A council spokesperson said: "We have had to make some changes to the design on the south (harbour) side after essential utilities were identified in an area that was originally marked up for the underground tree pits.
"The revised design will now see the line of trees moved closer to the road kerb line to avoid the utilities. This has meant that cycling provision will be incorporated into the main carriageway.
"This was not an easy decision to come to, but one that had to be made in the best interests of the project. The decision to omit the proposed cycleway from the scheme purely relates to site constraints that could not easily be resolved.
"Several options were considered including relocating a dedicated cycleway within the public realm or providing shared access for pedestrians and cyclists in the public realm space. These were not taken forward based on surface water drainage problems and conflict between pedestrians and cyclists being a safety concern.
"In the final scheme, cyclists will have safe access points at either end of The Strand to the carriageway which will be a 20mph zone. The overall site has been designed to slow traffic flow with widened kerb lines, and a single lane in each direction.
"To make the area safer for all road users, the newly created bus hub on Cary Parade means that a significant number of large vehicles have been moved from The Strand. This improves visibility and significantly reduces risk to cyclists and pedestrians.
"We still want people to cycle to the area. There will be facilities for people to park their bikes so they can dwell and spend time in the newly created public realm space. This will feature new trees, planting, seating, lighting, a tribute to Agatha Christie and the tramlines which were uncovered during the early part of the work.”