Council bosses were warned against scrapping cycle lane

City Hall chiefs were warned by internal council advisers that plans to remove an important cycle lane would prove hugely unpopular, but pressed ahead anyway. Bosses were told removing a cycle lane along Whiteladies Road would be a “real public relations risk”.

Last summer Bristol City Council revealed its plans to remove the cycle lane which runs from the junctions at Tyndall’s Park Road to Queens Road . That stretch of the road often floods, and the plans would have seen wider pavements and new larger drains to help prevent flooding.

But these plans were scrapped after proving controversial among many cyclists, as Whiteladies Road is a main corridor into the city from the north and the cycle lane is well used. New documents show how council bosses were warned of this potential risk in 2021.

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Internal advisers said the plans were “really not ideal” as that route is “busy and with vocal users”, according to documents released under freedom of information laws. Despite these warnings, Labour councillor for Avonmouth and Lawrence Weston Don Alexander, who is also cabinet member for transport, said he would try to “warm up” his cycling team and was “happy to remove the cycle lane”.

Writing on Twitter, Alexander said: “We spoke with more people and revised our plans accordingly. We do a lot of that.”

Transport projects to change the road network go through a quality assurance process before getting final approval.

One step is to hear comments or objections from various departments in the council, like the tree team, city design, or cycling team. A quality assurance form was filled out in 2021, with several clear warnings from council staff.

A traffic signal officer said: “Our preference would be to retain as much cycle provision as possible, only because we have just installed the first early-release traffic signals for cyclists in the city at the next junction down, at Triangle West, so it may look potentially contradictory if in the next breath we take cycling provision away here.”

The cycle lane on Whiteladies Road was set to be scrapped due to flooding risk – photo: Betty Woolerton

A cycling officer said: “I think the public pressure to install more cycle routes will increase, and removing it — especially here, which is busy and with vocal users — will be a real PR risk to the authority. We have just consulted on the A37/A4018 project, where we stated we are improving pedestrian, cycle and bus routes.

“In a location like this, I don’t think we should be taking 2 to 3.8 metres out of use, as we need all the space we can get allocated to pedestrians and cycles, as this is one of the main corridors into the city from the north. I appreciate the issues here, but I think removing the cycle route and still only providing two metres for pedestrians is really not ideal.”

A transport project manager said: “It’s a vital bit of road for prioritising cycle infrastructure in the long term,” adding that “any scheme here, where we are replacing the road surface for the long term, should have integrated protected cycling provision as far as possible, or we are really missing an opportunity”.

Later in 2021, Alexander was briefed by transport department bosses on the flood prevention scheme on Whiteladies Road. Minutes of that meeting show he was warned how the severity of the flooding meant the council was breaching its equalities and statutory duties to keep a safe footway, and taking action to prevent floods was increasingly urgent.

One officer said: “Water is flooding into properties on Whiteladies Road which cannot happen. The reality is we remove the trees or remove the cycle lane, which is not ideal but possible. Need to do something to keep safe as we have a legal duty under the Highways Act.”

Another officer advised that “the Bristol Cycle Campaign doesn’t like this type of cycle lanes, so it may not be as much of a PR risk as thought … their call is for proper segregated routes”. The minutes then state that Alexander “would have a chat with the cycling team at his meeting this afternoon, to warm them up”.

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In May last year the council unveiled its plans to remove the cycle lane, widening the pavements, and creating soft grass verges to soak up the rain. More than 1,000 people responded to a public consultation showing the removal plans were hugely unpopular — 94 per cent of respondents objected to removing the lane.

Then in October, the removal proposals were scrapped and a new draft plan was drawn up, which saves the cycle lane. One option would see the height of the pavements raised and a stepped cycle track installed, which would include new drains to help alleviate flooding. The council previously said it was “at the early stages of exploring these options”.

Green councillor Tom Hathway, who represents Clifton Down, said: “We had been raising the issue of this stretch for a while and were told that a project was on the horizon. Despite several requests for involvement we were only able to see the proposal a couple of days before the consultation launched — where we pointed out it was going to be a huge flop.

“Since the survey closed and the public response was as predicted, we met with Don Alexander and the highways team and talked through a draft new proposal, which we’ve been constructive on and saves the cycle lane.”

Bristol City Council was asked to comment.

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read next:

• Council u-turn Whiteladies Road cycle lanes likely to be retained 
• Cyclist breaks collarbone after flipping off bike due to metre-wide pothole
• Nelson Street cycle path to reopen ‘early in the new year’

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