“Nightmare” cycle lanes have made Rotherham less safe, claims councillor
“It’s just not wanted. They could have used this funding to make better walkways, better crossings”
A councillor has slammed “nightmare” cycle lanes, branding them unwanted and an “utter disaster” for the town.
Cllr Paul Thorpe claims bike lanes have been put in at the expense of pedestrian and road safety without proper consultation.
“In Rotherham we aren’t exactly classed as having young people. In a lot of the wards, the average age is fairly high” he said.
The Council has funded several major cycling infrastructure projects in recent years, with a recent £10.7m proposal scrapped after backlash from residents.
“It’s just not wanted. They could have used this funding to make better walkways, better crossings,” Cllr Thorpe said.
He believes the existing projects have made it “more dangerous for people driving down there because the cyclists are in the way”, and that cyclists themselves don’t use them.
He added: “Cyclists say ‘I’m not taking a bike there because I’d most likely get a puncture.’ A lot of things were just not thought of.
“When you want to put in cycle lanes there's a lot of things that depend on how it's going to work,” he said.
Cllr Thorpe points to one project on Wellgate which reportedly forced a bike shop to close due to decreased footfall.
He said: “They ripped it to bits for years to create a cycle lane that gets less cyclists than it did before.”
A petition to reconsider all schemes funded through the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement was unanimously accepted by the council last month after receiving 3,600 signatures.
Cllr Thorpe suggested that existing proposals should be replaced by routes which encourage people to visit parks and other green spaces.
He believes the Council “want to try and get people more active, but at the same time the green spaces seem to be struggling”.
Local residents have spoken on social media about the Council’s plans, with one writing: “The state they have made of that stretch of road going into town is horrendous. I have worked in Rotherham town center for 28 years and the amount of bikes you see in a year can be counted on 2 hands.”