A growing number of councils are clamping down on bikes in city centres to tackle a rise in antisocial cycling, but campaigners say the rules will “only make cycling more dangerous” and unfairly punish people committed to active transport.
Birmingham city council is the latest local authority considering a ban on cycling in pedestrian-only parts of the city centre, prompting a backlash from some residents who fear it could block key routes for commuters and shoppers and push cyclists on to congested roads.
A report to the council states that a rise in food and parcel couriers moving around the city “at speed and without care for other pedestrians” has created a “dangerous combination” of cyclists and pedestrians in areas with high footfall.
It recommended adding cycling to the city’s public spaces protection order (PSPO), which aims to tackle antisocial behaviour by banning large gatherings, street drinking, graffiti and loud noise in the city centre, and issuing fines to those who do not comply.
Active travel campaigners who oppose the proposal say they understand there is an issue with a growing number of delivery drivers using powerful e-bikes in the city centre to pick up orders.
“If you have someone zipping by at 20mph on one of those things, it does create a risk,” said Mat MacDonald, the chair of the campaign group Better Streets for Birmingham. “But there is already ample legislation to deal with that. There are ways of clamping down on that problem that don’t involve cutting off the entire middle of the city for people who are travelling by bike.
“It would only make cycling more dangerous in Birmingham.”
He said if a cycling restriction was applied to the current city centre PSPO area, which includes the area around New Street train station, it would “force cyclists back on to busy, dangerous roads alongside lots of traffic” and push back objectives set by the council on active travel.
The council stressed the issue was being put to a public consultation and various options were being considered, including restrictions on some or all cycles, managing the direction of cycles or no action.
It is not the first local authority to consider such cycling restrictions, with at least nine towns and cities around the country implementing similar cycling or skateboarding bans in recent years, with varying results.
In June, Colchester city council apologised and agreed to waive £100 fines issued to cyclists for allegedly breaching rules on cycling in pedestrian areas, after local campaigners said people were being unfairly targeted by “cowboy” wardens.
In Bedford, where 738 people have been fined for cycling in pedestrian areas in the last few months, there has been “a large drop in residents cycling to the town”, according to Peter Blakeman, the chair of Cycling Campaign for North Bedfordshire.
But some councillors say that PSPOs work well if implemented in specific targeted areas. In Grimsby, the council has long been pushing to stop cycling down a 200-metre pedestrian shopping street, even bringing in a tannoy system that reminds people every 30 minutes that cycling is banned.
“It was every 15 minutes but we cut it down because it was getting too repetitive,” said the North East Lincolnshire councillor Ron Shepherd, who hails the PSPO for helping to revitalise the town centre by stopping loitering and antisocial behaviour.
“We’ve had a lady who was knocked over a few weeks ago by somebody on a bike. It’s just about ensuring the protection of pedestrians, trying to make it a nice shopping experience rather than having the risk of being run over. We have cycling hubs at either end of the no cycling zone so people can ride in, park their bike up and walk in.”
But cycling campaigners argue that using PSPOs to stop cycling in all its forms often leads to people being unfairly targeted for minor or unintended rule breaches. Duncan Dollimore, the head of campaigns at Cycling UK, said: “There are people in this world who are irresponsible, and some of them are on a bike, but if that’s the problem, we need to deal with that behaviour. Banning a whole class of activity and a means of transport is not how you address the problem.
“It’s very difficult to see how banning all cyclists, including people who would have always behaved responsibly, isn’t restricting access, which isn’t what PSPOs are designed to do. Plus, a lot of the companies contracted by councils to issue these fines have an incentive to do so.”
MacDonald said that with a sharp increase in couriers using bikes to get around, questions should be asked of the delivery companies that create working conditions which are contributing to the problem in the first place. “I have some sympathy for those who are basically on a job where they get paid per delivery, so they’re going to want to go as quickly as possible,” he said.
A spokesperson for Birmingham city council said: “We are considering measures to try and decrease instances of cycling at speed through one small area of the city centre where there is high footfall, and it is unsafe to cycle due to the likelihood of near misses and collisions. This does not impact on the council’s commitment to prioritise pedestrians and cyclists as part of ongoing developments and its transportation plan.”
