Bike ban council wants "safe place where people don't worry about bicycles" and claims cyclists "fly through town centre" – but cyclists say they are being fined for dismounting and pushing their bikes

"We are supposed to be encouraging people to cycle into town. Should we be fining people who are using their bikes to go into town?" 

That was the question posed by one Bedford councillor at a meeting last week, the local representative raising issue with a town centre cycling ban and suggesting she has been "inundated with complaints from residents that have been fined dismounting their bikes in the town centre".

It is the latest chapter in the PSPO (Public Space Protection Order) story surrounding cycling bans in many towns and cities across the country, local authorities restricting use of bicycles in certain areas and fining those who do not adhere to the rules, often introduced with a stated purpose of tackling anti-social behaviour.

In 2016, Bedford became one of a number of towns to impose a cycling ban in pedestrianised areas, using a PSPO to crack down on "anti-social behaviour".

Under the PSPO, which according to Bedford Borough Council was put in place "following consultation suggesting that reckless riding of bicycles in Bedford town centre was reducing the quality of life of residents", cycling is not permitted in certain parts of the town centre between 9am and 6pm.

Since the ban was introduced, thousands of Fixed Penalty Notices have been issued to people riding their bikes in Bedford town centre, perhaps most famously when, in 2019, ultra-distance cyclist Josh Quigley was slapped with a £75 fine for cycling through the town just a week into his second – and ultimately successful – round-the-world ride. 

During the same year, Jeremy Vine offered to pay the fine of a woman caught breaching the PSPO, because the broadcaster didn't "want her to be put off cycling for a second".

> Man faces £351 bill after being caught cycling through Bedford town centre

The PSPO, which has been the subject of protest group rides by local cycling campaigners who brand it "discriminatory", was due to expire in 2022 but was extended by the council – despite a consultation revealing that 54 per cent of residents were opposed to the town centre cycling ban.

And now, in a similar manner to the fines meted out earlier this year in Colchester – which ultimately led to the local authority waiving the penalties following a backlash from residents – a Bedford councillor has claimed that several cyclists have been fined for breaching the PSPO despite having already dismounted their bikes.

"We are supposed to be encouraging people to cycle into town"

 During a recent Bedford Borough Council meeting, reported on by Bedford Today, Labour councillor Caroline White said: "I've been inundated with complaints from residents that have been fined dismounting their bikes in the town centre near Harpur Square.

"We are supposed to be encouraging people to cycle into town. Should we be fining people who are using their bikes to go into town?"

In response, the council's chief environment officer Paul Pace said: "That zone is for pedestrians only. We want to encourage people into our town centres, and they want a safe place where they can actually not worry about bicycles.

"I've witnessed, many times, bicycles flying through the town centre. The only reason we bought these fines was we had a number of instances with one or two people getting clipped with bicycles, mostly the elderly, but also huge amounts of near misses."

He continued: "We don't ban cycling all the time, we ban it during a period of time. If we were allowing people to cycle through there and not enforcing it, we would be called to task to say why are we not enforcing the traffic regulation order."

However, White criticised the lack of clear signage notifying people on bikes that cycling is not permitted, adding: "I agree we need to make it a safe zone for pedestrians, but then it's also our responsibility to be putting better signage."

"There is traffic regulation in order signs as well as the PSPO [Public Spaces Protection Order] signs that clearly do say the area is a pedestrian zone. There is quite a lot of signage already in place," Pace responded, before offering to walk the site with councillors.

According to Bedford Borough Council's website, failing to comply with the PSPO is an offence which carries a maximum penalty upon conviction of a fine not exceeding £1,000, but offences may also be dealt with by way of a fixed penalty notice of £75.

While those in authority in Bedford appear to be doubling down on the approach, yesterday we reported that Worcester City Council looks set to remove a similar ban from its main shopping area. Naturally, this prompted one outspoken Conservative councillor, who previously wanted mandatory cyclist number plates, to claim that removing the ban will turn it into a "dangerous and unwelcoming" place.

In March, we reported that Worcester City Council opted against extending its city centre cycling ban PSPO, council figures stating that it was "more about culture wars than what we want for the city" and that they were "never convinced dangerous cyclists were the big issue", with the ban feeling like "political theatre". Campaigners also argued it acted as a "psychological barrier" to more people using bicycles.

PSPOs are a hot topic at the minute, the seemingly never-ending saga in Grimsby rumbling on into the autumn. Last month we reported that another cyclist had been ordered to pay £500 for riding through town centre, as a councillor insisted that cyclists "who have not followed rules" will be "rightly punished".

Grimsby's council has also begun trialling playing a "no cycling" message on speakers every 15 minutes to combat the "anti-social behaviour".

The major criticism that cycling groups have made about such town centre cycling bans is largely the point Cllr White made in Bedford recently — that they discourage people cycling into the town. But also that they do so while also failing to deter the sort of anti-social behaviour it is believed they'll combat.

> Proposed city centre e-bike ban will "discourage cycling and penalise responsible cyclists," says cycling and walking commissioner

Active travel charity Cycling UK has long been a prominent critic of PSPOs, which it claims have the effect of criminalising cycling.

"Some councils have used PSPOs as a geographically defined version of an ASBO to restrict the use of public space and criminalise behaviour not normally regarded as illegal," Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK's head of campaigns, has previously said.