Move Box Hill cycling events to Uxbridge, says Mole Valley UKIP candidate

The UKIP candidate in Mole Valley, the constituency that includes Box Hill, says that if elected he will lobby to have cycling events there moved to Uxbridge – where Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is standing for the Conservative Party and is expected to secure his return to the House of Commons.

While he stops short of naming it in a leaflet distributed to local residents in the safe Tory seat, Paul Oakley’s principal target appears to be the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 sportive and the Classic pro race that follows it. This year’s third edition will be held on Sunday 2 August.

In the leaflet, a copy of which was sent to road.cc by Mole Valley resident Rich Clark, Mr Oakley – a barrister who lives in south east London – says:

Bikes, Boris, Box Hill and Beyond: Boris Johnson conspired with Surrey County Council to introduce regular cycling competitions to the Surrey Hills. These have boxed-in locals and led to traffic chaos. If elected I will work with the Greater London Authority to have these events moved to Uxbridge. See how he likes it!

The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 is the highest profile event taking in the beauty spot above Dorking, but as we reported last month, 18 others are due to include the climb between April and November, a number the  Box Hill Neighbourhood Council described as “excessive.”

Even prior to the road races at the London 2012 Olympic Games, there was vocal opposition locally to the number of cyclists attempting the climb, part of which is owned by the National Trust, and there have also been claims of anti-social activities such as riders urinating in people’s gardens or verbally abusing residents.

Organisers of the Vachery Triathlon, which takes place in the area, said that onerous conditions introduced by the council that perhaps reflected “the anti open-road cycling furore from local politicians and protesters experienced [in 2013]” lay behind the decision to cancel last year’s event.

Ahead of the inaugural edition of Olympic legacy event RideLondon-Surrey 100 in 2013, which attracted more than 20,000 participants, local businessman Ian Huggins launched a petition titled ‘Stop Surrey Being Turned Into a Cycle Track which attracted 3,543 supporters.

It is people holding that type of anti-cycling sentiment to whom Mr Oakley’s electoral promise is presumably designed to appeal – although it’s worth noting that a rival petition from road.cc reader Keith McRae in favour of such events in Surrey achieved 3,985 signatures.

Following that first edition of the RideLondon-Surrey 100, changes were made to the route for 2014 in consultation with Surrey County Council to ensure that half the county’s roads affected by the event would re-open three hours earlier than was the case in the debut year.

At the time, Helyn Clack, Surrey County Council’s cabinet member for community services, said: “We’re pleased the event organisers have been able to incorporate our suggestions into the improved delivery of the event and done even more to limit disruption to residents and businesses well ahead of this year’s events.”

She also emphasised the benefits the event brought with it, saying: “If last year is anything to go by, this year’s Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic and 100 events will be a shot in the arm for local shops, cafes and pubs along the route, and the loop around Dorking is an exciting new feature.”

As it turned out, last year’s event was hit by atrocious weather, forcing organisers to shorten the route on safety grounds to cut out the planned climbs of Box Hill and Leith Hill.