Urgent call for action to link up Peterborough's network of cycle paths

Keen cyclist Councillor Heather Skibsted is calling for more joined up thinking over Peterborough’s cycle routes that she says come to an abrupt halt in the city centre.

She says there are good cycle routes around Peterborough but they do not join up in the city centre forcing riders to dismount.

Now Cllr Skibsted is urging council chiefs to make city centre cycle routes a major priority.

She has written a question to Full Council (Wednesday, 12 October) expressing her concerns that planned new cycling and walking routes across the city are still dangerous, and should be reconsidered.

The council's proposed ‘Local Council Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan 2019-2029’ has no provision for the safe linking of cycling and walking routes from the north of Peterborough to the South.

Instead, the proposals expect cyclists to dismount and walk for large parts of any cross-city travel along narrow pathways next to busy main roads already clogged with cars.

Cllr Skibsted said: “The fact that the proposed plan doesn’t take account of cyclists and walkers in the city centre is my main concern – it's just impractical to expect people to get off and push their bikes all the time.

“We’re trying to aim for this ‘carbon-free’ city and yet here we are promoting the use of cars and preventing the use of cycling and walking in Peterborough city centre and they don’t see those needs as a priority.

“I cycle into the city from the south side, and Town Bridge is really quite dangerous – there is only one side that you can cycle on, and you often have to get off making it quite difficult to get into the centre of Peterborough.”

Peterborough Cycle Forum added: “We support Cllr Skibsted’s question, asking for a commitment to improve cycle routes in the city centre.

“We have been providing information and ideas to the council for over four years to help it complete the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan, however, the routes described by the council have always stopped on the edge of the city centre.

“This is why we have been asking for a City Centre Cycling Strategy, especially to plan for the future, as there is so much residential development planned at the Embankment, Fletton Quays, Cowgate, Broadway, Cattle Market, Northminster and on the University Site.

“For anyone wishing to ride a bicycle in the City Centre there is currently confusion and a lack of safe, legal routes.

“For example, you can only use Park Road in one direction, nobody officially knows if you can cycle in both directions on Cowgate. You can't legally use Wentworth Street or St Peter's Road as alternatives to Bridge Street. The routes over Town Bridge are so narrow they create conflict with pedestrians. You have to cross three lanes of live traffic to legally cross Crescent Bridge heading out of the City Centre. The routes on Bishops Road just stop and say, 'End of Route'. Sustrans have even recently removed the National Cycle Network from the City Centre because it is so bad.

A spokesperson for Peterborough City Council said: “Due to the fact that this question will be asked at the Full Council, we won’t be able to provide comment until after.”