Controversial cycling ban to be eased to “cut congestion” – less than a year after council claimed restrictions had “wide support”

A controversial cycling ban on a pedestrianised high street – which was the subject of targeted spot checks and warnings of £1,000 fines when it was first introduced in 2021 – is set to be eased next week following feedback from local cycling groups, in a move the local council believes will cut congestion and promote both active travel and “safe cycling”.

The Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) prohibiting cycling at all times on Maidenhead’s High Street was first approved in April 2021, after community wardens claimed to have witnessed “many incidents” of people riding bikes causing “alarm and distress” to residents in the area.

The lead member for public protection and parking at the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead at the time, David Cannon, said the order – like other cycling-related PSPOs across the country – was designed to “change” residents’ behaviours and deter anti-social behaviour.

> Cyclists could face £1,000 fine if caught riding in pedestrianised zones

Months later, the council confirmed that wardens were patrolling the High Street’s no-cycling zone (as well as on Peascod Street in Windsor, where the PSPO was also enacted) and carrying out “targeted spot checks” to raise awareness of the order.

Cyclists were also warned that they would receive an automatic £100 fine if they failed to dismount when approached by a warden, and risk a £1,000 penalty if they appealed and took the matter to court.

Last April, the local authority approved the extension of the PSPO for another three years following what council leader Simon Werne described as “clearly wide support for continuing” the order among residents.

“While these measures do give wardens the ability to issue fines, their focus is allowing wardens to have meaningful conversations with the minority of people who break the rules to encourage voluntary compliance and changes in behaviour,” Werne said.

> Police force slammed for "stoking culture war" with "Operation LYCRA" targeting cyclists

However, despite extending the ban, and following feedback from local cycling groups, the council also requested a follow-up consultation on whether to amend the PSPO so it only operates between 10am and 5pm.

The council said last year that limiting the times in which the PSPO is in place “has the potential to help promote active travel while continuing to promote safer cycling”.

High Street, Maidenhead 

And next Wednesday, councillors will vote on whether to amend the order to allow cyclists to use Maidenhead’s High Street before 10am and after 5pm, which officials say could help cut congestion in the town and encourage residents to cycle to and from work.

The council said the “proportionate” change to enable cycling in the morning and evening on High Street would take into consideration “differences in the footfall, zero gradient, and limited nighttime economy”.

However, the borough’s other cycling PSPO, on Peascod Street in Windsor, will not be affected by Wednesday’s vote.

The local authority says cycling will remain prohibited there due to the “much higher footfall”, as well as its downhill slope, which the council said means cyclists “would find it difficult to manage their speed”.

As we have reported on road.cc on a regular basis, PSPOs banning cycling in pedestrian areas, and giving council officers the power to fine people riding bikes, have been the subject of intense scrutiny in recent years, following concerns that they are being used to also crack down on safe and considerate cycling in towns.

Despite their apparent aim to deter anti-social or nuisance behaviour in town and city centres, several local authorities who have implemented the measures have been criticised for instead imposing sometimes hefty fines on people riding their bikes safely in pedestrian zones.

In Grimsby, for instance, where the fines have become something of a long-running saga, council officers have been accused of targeting “old and slow” cyclists using their bikes to get into town and visit the shops, while ignoring youths “racing up and down”.

And in Colchester, the local council was forced to put a temporary halt to its penalty system after campaigners complained that people on bikes were being unfairly targeted by third-party wardens “running amok”.

These “cowboy” wardens were also accused of discouraging people from cycling in the city, by mistakenly fining cyclists £100 for riding their bikes in areas where cycling is permitted, threatening them with a £1,000 penalty if they appealed the fine, and telling one elderly female cyclist that she wasn’t allowed to use a city centre road because she doesn’t pay “road tax”.

> “If you don’t want cycling on footpaths, support bike lanes and 20mph zones”: Town centre cycling bans and the fight against “cowboy” wardens

In Birmingham, cycling campaigners are currently hoping to stop the introduction of a PSPO seemingly designed to halt “speeding” delivery riders, but which cyclists argue will make parts of the city centre “impermeable for cycling”, discriminate against people who use cycles as mobility aids, and fail to stamp out nuisance or dangerous behaviour.

Active travel charity Cycling UK has long been a prominent critic of PSPOs, which it claims have the effect of criminalising cycling and discouraging people from riding into town, while failing to combat actual nuisance behaviour.

“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.