During the lockdown, we all noticed how much less traffic there was on the roads, especially when out walking for daily exercise.  This significantly changed the feel and nature of the roads at the time.  The government wanted to see if these changes could be an opportunity to sustain these increases in walking and cycling, improving the environment and our health. The intentions were certainly good.  

As well as huge increases in funding to help cope with the pandemic and its impacts, the government also allocated additional money to local authorities that was ringfenced to try temporary cycle lanes (also known as pop-up) while traffic levels were lower.  However, I do think the government didn't foresee how quickly traffic would return to roughly 80% or so of pre-lockdown levels.

As the transport local authority, West Sussex County Council led on their implementation and they asked the District and Borough Councils to put forward schemes.  Crawley Borough Council put forward a pop-up cycle lane on Hazelwick Avenue in Three Bridges.

This was put in a week last Monday and straight away you could see that the removal of road space for vehicles changed the road layout into something very unnatural.  This is one of the busiest roads in Crawley that isn’t an A road and reducing the amount of road space here is madness.  Last Saturday, while visiting the major supermarket there, I didn’t see a single cyclist either coming or going, but I did observe dozens of vehicles having to navigate the reduced road space.    

In Brighton, there’s been traffic chaos by the seafront caused by these lanes.  It is clear that while these pop-up cycle lanes were well-intentioned, they’re not working and they need to be very temporary indeed.  Mistakes do happen and it’s important to learn lessons from them.  Previous warnings I’ve given about Crawley Borough Council’s overzealous draft cycling plan need to be carefully considered.  We need to focus on improving and better maintaining the cycle routes we have - not punishing motorists by making their lives harder, under the delusion that they will become cyclists instead.

Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group

2nd September 2020