Consultation begins on Velothon Wales road closures

You've got to laugh, some Caerphilly residents are up in arms over the road closures for the Velothon, but what most haven't yet realised is that the following Sunday the 3rd Caerphilly 10K run is taking place.

This starts and finishes in the town centre and some road will be closed for up to six hours.

I feel so sorry for them, no really I do LOL.

Last year some motorists tried to drive through the road blocks and onto the 10K course. The Police arrived pretty quickly and stopped their progress.

Just be aware that if your riding the Velothon to keep your eyes open in case some moron (theres plenty around here!) forces their way onto the course.

I am not participating in this years Velothon (it's been signed up for 5 years) maybe next year but I do live along the route.

I have no doubt that the roads will be closed.

Good thing that as there are far too many cars even on a Sunday in the Caerphilly area.

Anyway below is a link to an interesting document showing the road closures and traffic management arrangements in the Caerphilly County area. Other local authorities involved will no doubt have separate documents for their areas :

http://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/CaerphillyDocs/Consultations/caerphilly_TM_...

I showed the above to a relative of mine and he blew his top when he realised he would be locked in for the day as a lot of people in Caerphilly will be.

Trouble is people think they have a right to drive anywhere at anytime but they are wrong it's not a God given right but a privilege. Its not going to hurt the motorists to stay off the roads for a day and give someone else a chance.

Here's another document giving the road closure times for all areas:

http://www.democracy.caerphilly.gov.uk/documents/s7895/Appendix%201%20Pr...

Obviously the above are subject to change, especially if the NIMBY's have their way but I think you'll find the proposed road closures will go ahead as planned.

The Local Authorites have had this event forced upon them for the next five years. The agreements were made at a high level within the Welsh Government and none of the Local Authorities involved will want to upset the Welsh Government hierarchy believe me.

So all those taking part, I will be along side one of the closed roads cheering you on - enjoy the day and prey for good weather!!

Hi all

I tweeted @Velothonwales this morning. Below is their response:

"All TTROs – Temporary Traffic Regulation Orders - are subject to public consultation by law. This is the case with any major
event - the London Marathon/ the Olympic Games/ the New Year's Eve fireworks on Victoria Embankment etc.

The local authority’s highways team must consult its public on road closures by law. The Velothon Wales is no different.

There is no reason to suggest there will be any issue with this. The roads will be closed for the event"

I've ridden this companies sportives abroad; they only do closed roads; so this will be fixed or cancelled I expect!

I wonder what a motorist on an open country road is expected to do when confronted with a continuous string of cyclists from 7am to 11am [stand by the road and clap; probably won't happen.] And will more 'sportier' sportivists confine themselves to the left hand lane? Thousands of riders and open road is just not viable without endangering people.

"Consultation"? With the route published, money taken, entry's confirmed, sponsors and sponsorship sourced! If the event is running then it's not consultation, if it is real consultation then what's the possibily of it not running as published? Either way this is not right at this stage. As an entrant, someone who has been asking people for money ( for a charity) I am less than impressed!

15K is too many surely, is that not the problem ?

I entered the Cav one and under no impression it was full closed roads ... how many expected for that one then ? if too many will pull out because into the thousands is madness, parking etc for it.

'People have said to me although they’re against it in principle, it’s not going to affect them a great deal.'

Is this a typo, or are people just shit?

Mis-sold? I should coco. Now feeling extremely hacked off having paid for the entry and parking already.

If only that were true Steve...unfortunately there are plenty of cars on the road in CaerFilthy on a Sunday Morning, and across the rest of South Wales too. All of them enroute to bloody shopping centres or MacDs for Sunday lunch.

Its Caerphilly! if its not signing on day then the roads will be empty.

This is heading towards ... "i want my money back .... "

Does 'closed to traffic' mean closed to all traffic other than people doing the sportive, or only closed to motor traffic?

how can you have 15000 people taking part if the roads are not closed? Are they planning on sending out waves spread out over a number of hours?

Posted twice... (apologies)

Given the event was advertised and sold as a closed road sportive it's come as a surprise to me that the closures are not yet sanctioned. The Velothon organisers will have a lot of annoyed customers on their hands if the closures and not full and not for the extent of the whole ride. There are many sportives in South Wales, the whole excitement of this one came from the closed road selling point.