Do councils not have anything better to do?!

On my way to work I go across a bit of land that used to be a brickworks and is now a little nature reserve slash park kind of place. It has some big surfaced paths across it and seems to be a popular way of getting around for pedestrians, dog walkers, cyclists going to work or school, kids playing around on bikes, it's all very friendly.

Now in the name of "improving access" (that's what their newsletter says) the council are installing some large kissing-gate style metal gates that you can't bike through, so us cyclists will all have to go round a longer way on the road instead.

I have never seen any evidence of undesirable activities that these gates will stop, so do they just have too much money to spend? Fifty yards down the road is a wrecked bit of crash barrier that someone crashed their car into aaaages ago that still hasn't been fixed yet, surely they could have done that instead?

The council round here (Cannock) don't seem to want anyone to get about using anything but a car; I can't walk or cycle to the tip, if I want to walk to the station (only 1/2 an hour away) I have to risk life and limb crossing a massive great trunk road that has no crossings on it, and now a bit of my way to work is out of bounds for no good reason!

Oooooo it makes me cross.

It will be to stop illegal motorcycle use probably

Would it prevent a wheelchair user getting access?

Would it prevent a wheelchair user getting access?

Bingo!

Retro83 and the flying plastic toy have hit the nail on the head!

They're quite large so I suspect you could probably squeeze a wheelchair through; if you upend your bike you can just about walk it through (it's easier to heft it over the top though!). You'd never get a mobility scooter in, mind, but I presume they don't have to allow for that.

It's silly if it's just about motorcycle use… it's a pretty small patch of land full of trees and ponds, and this is just off the bottom end of Cannock Chase where there are countless old tips and other abandoned mining related sites that would be far better for ragging a motorbike round.

Time to go find some phone numbers to find someone to whinge at…

You'd never get a mobility scooter in, mind, but I presume they don't have to allow for that.

I don't know for certain, but I'd be willing to bet they do have to allow for that, as any disability access has to be taken into account. Really worth kicking up a fuss about.

Is a wheelchair not wider than a bike then?

Wider but not as long…

If its on a PROW they need permission from the highway authority and unless there are stock issues it is unlikely they will get it. So worth checking with the rights of way team as the work might be being carried out by another bit of the council who don't know this. If it is simply to stop motorbikes they could be challenged using the disability discrimination act also if the route is legit for cycling challenge them as it will be virtually impossible to get a bike with a child seat or trailer through.

A quick update:

It appears they've finished faffing; the several-metre-wide entrances with a bollard in the middle of the path have been replaced by a locked full width gate, a large kissing gate to one side and a gap between the gatepost and the fence on the other. That gap is probably about as wide as the gaps between the fenceposts and the bollard were before, so it looks like anything that could get in before can still get in now.

Bizarre…

Bear in mind, people, that all this wheelchair access malarkey is leaving us wide open to the threat of a Dalek invasion.

Bear in mind, people, that all this wheelchair access malarkey is leaving us wide open to the threat of a Dalek invasion.

😆

They can get up stairs now anyway 😉

"Now in the name of "improving access" (that's what their newsletter says) the council are installing some large kissing-gate style metal gates that you can't bike through, so us cyclists will all have to go round a longer way on the road instead."

Do you not have arms? What's so hard about lifting a bike over a gate that you have to take a road diversion instead?

Never mind Daleks, I don't want to be bumping into that Speak 'n' Spell voiced f*cker Hawking every time I go out on my bike. 🙂