Not in my FRONT yard: Hinckley residents oppose cycle path... because it may stop them parking on the pavement

Hi Average Jo. Have you fed that back to the Council? You never know, they might re apportion this money to something more useful if you can identify it for them.

I'm not holding much hope, but you never know!

I live in Hinckley (a beautiful town, the jewel of the East Midlands ), and have regularly ridden on Netherley Road. There is no way on God's sweet earth that it requires any kind of bike path, let alone the half arsed rubbish of a shared path. It might not look it from the photo, but it's a wide residential road without much traffic. There's a 90 degree bend part way along that keeps traffic speed down. The only possible reason for this plan is so the local council can say "look, we've got x meters more of cycling infrastructure" (even though it's crap and not needed). There are plenty of roads in the town that do need provision for cyclists. All the main routes into town are narrow, busy and intimidating to cyclists. They do however have large areas of grass between the road and the pavement. The solution for these roads would be too put in proper bike lanes by removing some of these verges, but that would cost a lot more than a tin of white paint, so I can't see it happening.

http://bamboobadger.blogspot.co.uk/2008/01/car-parking-ill-just-leave-th...

On road parking is now the norm for so many people - myself included in the last 2 houses I lived in - but it is at the expense of pleasant, liveable spaces. These residents are being gifted a chance to rehumanize their street but you get the impression that they only care about their tonnes of metal & have devised spurious arguments to counter anything that affects their car - love. I may be wrong..

There is a very simple way to make the plan acceptable to the residents. Ticket them remorselessly for a couple of months for pavement parking. Then when they are all screening blue murder suggest the plan to permit pavement parking in conjunction with the shared path. They will be grateful for it then...

I detest pavement parkers with a passion. It the time I wish I had a disintegration ray.

Good I hate bike paths, there designed by the same half wits that bang on about helmets and whatever.

Make the road safe for cyclist, problem fixed.

Perhaps the people living there could do a "Clarkson" and work harder and then buy a house with a drive or a garage

Paving over front gardens has very specific guidance but is universally flouted and no Local Authority is likely to enforce it.

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/commonprojects/pavingfrontga...

Anyone who knocks a front wall down and paves over a garden is worse than Hitler.
In my opinion.
Along with plastic windows is the biggest blight on the urban landscape.

The road in the story looks like a feckin horrible place to live exactly for this reason and the idiots who live there deserve to live on such a horrible car dominated road.

The conversion of pavement to shared use path is the reallocation of roadspace from the most vulnerable users (pedestrians) to the least vulnerable (motor vehicles), where the exact opposite should be happening to create environments safe and relaxing for people.

I sort of hope that the residents suceed with thier petition. 'Shared Use' paths (otherwise known as 'cyclists may use the pavement') are really bad news. They provide a false sense of security for novice cyclists, are usually unsuitable for more experienced cyclists and reinforce the view held by a sizable minority of drivers that cycles don't have a place on the highway.

As for car parking, every residential building should have a defined limit to the number of vehicles that are allowed to be registered there. Residents could apply to have this limit increased if they make more space by giving up their garden's to build driveways etc. and although it would be open to a certain level of abuse it could make a big difference to the number of cars parked on residential roads.

Neil753 makes good points about the general increase in driver-aged individials per household but as a nation we need to separate ourselves from this idea that car ownership is somehow compulsary. Imagine a married couple living in a average 3 bed semi with their two grown-up kids, both of which have partners who have also moved in. If they have a car each that's 6 cars. Given the lack of parking provision its simply not sustainable.

Quote:

It's an old-fashioned road where the elderly are looked after and everyone talks or at least nods to each other.

Except for anyone who uses a pushchair, or a wheelchair, presumably...

I don't really understand this - whatever other arguments are used, the locals have admitted to mass law breaking. Why doesn't the council just send down a traffic warden? I bet the fees for illegal parking would pay for any changes the council is proposing to make along there..

The average mileage per car is falling, but the average number of cars per household is increasing, because the number of homes being built is failing to keep pace with population. If you add multiple occupancy to the trend for developers to build without parking provision if they can get away with it, plus councils' efforts to restrict parking places for new commercial developments, you can see why this problem isn't going to go away.

The crying shame is that we could create safe networks virtually overnight, not just in town but nationally too, with the use of bollards and some 20mph signs, on residential streets and carefully chosen minor roads linking communities.

If we want real change, within the cost restrictions that every local authoritiy inevitably faces, then we have to stop campaigning for a few cycleways like the one proposed in one street in Hinkley, that ultimately provide very little social cohesion, through a collective failure to look at the bigger picture. If we can do this, then there would be plenty of room for parked cars, on routes that are safe for cycling.

Why would anyone need to pave over a whole front garden?

As mentioned above, only two strips needed of supportive material, and it can be permeable lattice blocks, which let the grass grow through. Like these (many other variants are available):

http://greenspec.buildinggreen.com/product/turfstone-paving-stones/ri-la...

Was in Duesseldorf a number of years ago, the massive parking lot outside of the convention centre used these.

"I also think it would lead to people getting rid of their front gardens to create drives."
Well we can't have people parking their cars on their own property can we...

More NIMBY'S it seems.

HOORAY, LET'S GAS EVERYONE ON PETROL FUMES?

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

So what the council is proposing is shared use that still has some parking places? Fun, door zone and pedestrians. And I love a shared path that has an access ramp for parking every other house, those regular dips and bumps help keep me alert!

I think I see a "cycling facility of the month" in the making. As suggested by others, look at creating a quietway. If I were ever there, I'd ride on the road anyway and the residents might even appreciate a slightly more family friendly neighbourhood.

And in general, I'd rather local authorities spent the little they have on improving dangerous junctions instead of relatively safe straight roads.

Yep, looks fine to cycle on the road as it is from the photo. I'd rather that than the confusion of cycling amongst parked cars and pedestrians.

I did enjoy this great non-sequitur, though:
"It's an old-fashioned road where the elderly are looked after and everyone talks or at least nods to each other.

"This will result in the breakdown of this community."

????

Every scheme that antagonises local residents launches a thousand punishment passes. The photos have been taken during the day when most people are at work, so give a false impression of parking need. We've all got to understand that many young adults share houses with parents, or share houses with their peers, so the parking space required per house is increasing all the time, so we shouldn't dismiss these residents' concerns.

Far better would be to change the speed limit to 20mph and just place bollards half way down the street to create a "quietway". Link a few quietways together and you suddenly have a network.