|
Penwith councillors have confirmed a decision made earlier in the
year to allow cyclists to share the seafront footpath along Newlyn
Green with pedestrians. Members of Penwith Council's social, economic
and environment committee had been challenged about their decision
to allow cyclists to use the Green, but at their meeting last Wednesday,
members voted once again, with just one abstention, to allow cyclists
to legally use the path.
The committee had been forced to re-discuss the controversy after
it emerged that councillors may have been given incorrect guidance
at their earlier meeting.
The advice from council officers had been for cyclists to be given
permissive rights on the 300-metre-long path from Newlyn to Wherrytown.
They reported that many cyclists have flouted a ban that has been
in place since 1949, because they claim the adjoining road is not
safe.
Committee chairman Hudson Smith said: "The majority of councillors
voted in favour of a shared use of the path. This will be achieved
very simply through a raised centre line and motifs to be installed
to ensure segregation and to avoid upset for elderly pedestrians."
He said that there have been very few incidents or problems reported
over the years with cyclists and pedestrians sharing the path.
Mr Smith said that the committee received 48 letters of objection
against a continuing ban on cyclists, compared to four in support.
He said that in 2004 the council sent out 3,700 forms to people
in Newlyn and Penzance and got almost 2,000 responses, with nearly
two-thirds favouring widening the path to give walkers and cyclists
separate lanes.
"But we won't have to widen the path as we have been told
it is already wide enough for us to separate cyclists and pedestrians
through painting a white line down the middle," said Mr Smith.
But the validity of the decision is being questioned by Living
Streets, a national organisation, whose local spokesman Andrew Tait,
of Porthcurno, says that they remain opposed to the introduction
of cycling, as does Government policy.
"Penwith Councillors have been very badly advised on this
subject by Penwith officers, who so far have had to withdraw their
reports at least three times," he said.
"There is a national problem with increasing pavement cycling
causing increased pedestrian injuries and fatalities.
"There is a lot of concern about cyclists riding on pavements
as this can lead to accidents. We urge them to stay on the roads
where they belong."
He said that last month Cornwall County Council formally removed
bicycles from the shared use pavement adjoining the promenade, as
a result of multiple complaints to the Ombudsman and a critical
report by transport consultants Halcrow, which applies to the Newlyn
Green situation as well.
"The promenade pavement cycling scheme endangered pedestrians
and cyclists, contradicted government guidance LTN 2/86, and had
been the principal cause of the illegal cycling problem on the adjoining
path at Newlyn Green, as well as encouraging illegal and dangerous
pavement cycling throughout the town," said Mr Tait.
The estimated cost of the changes to the path is in the region
of £3,300. The social, economic and environment committee
will be applying to Penwith Council's Liveability Funds for the
money.
 |
