Cycling ban on the Prom is ‘nonsense’

Aug 27 2009 by Dan Owen, North Wales Weekly News

IN a world becoming more worrisome by the day, surely there is no more reassuring sign that all is not lost with so many people taking up cycling – or thinking of doing so.

Not for them a half-life driving from one car park to another. Many of us are now discovering, or re-discovering after many years, the sheer joy that is life pedalling on two wheels – once you've made friends with your saddle!

So we should not be surprised that Terry Douglas (Your Views August 20) is affronted by the nonsensical cycling ban on Llandudno promenade.

But for the ban cyclists would be able to enjoy safe access to hotels, guesthouses, and the Great Orme, at miniscule risk to other users. That they are prevented from doing so makes a mockery of the local authority's anti-discrimination and social inclusion policies - and at a time when every effort should be made to attract the burgeoning cycling holiday market.

In the interests of the borough employees policing this iniquitous prohibition on the ground, it is to be hoped they have clear written instructions from their masters on the protocol for excluding child and disabled cyclists from the prom, and in so doing forcing them to use the Parade, a particularly hazardous stretch of highway for much of the year. . No public employee should be expected to follow instructions that could end up in the coroners court - not least on behalf of a private landowner - Mostyn Estates..

Roy SpilsburyCTC Cymru