UK seaside town's struggling council spends £500k making cycle lane more dangerous
The seaside town's £500,000 project has been blasted as a "colossal waste of money"
A cash‐strapped council has been blasted for blowing half a million pounds on a cycle lane less than a mile long - which locals say has actually made the road MORE dangerous for cyclists.
The £500,000 project in the seaside town of Gorleston, Norfolk., has been blasted for being a "colossal waste of money" and even drawn criticism from cyclists themselves.
Locals claim the new lanes have made the street dangerously narrower and more hazardous while retailers say the loss or parking spaces has harmed trade.
Mobility scooters have been spotted riding up and down the cycle lanes, delivery drivers regularly block them and cyclists say they're now forced onto the pavement to stay safe.
Resident Les West, 83, who lives on Middleton Road where the lanes have been installed, said: "It is a disgusting, horrendous waste of money.
"They have made a busy road into a dangerous one.
"It is a colossal waste of money and I can't see the point in it at all."
Sue Bowman, 53 and who works at the Rose Garden florist shop on Middleton Road, said: "It has gone from a safe road to a very unsafe, dangerous road. It is awful.
"I don't like driving on it now. The lanes you drive on are too narrow and the road is so narrow because the cycle lanes have been put in.
"We are still getting people parking in the cycle lanes and people don't know where to park."
Liz Spires, 66, who had come to the florist with her family, said: "We think it is bloody stupid.
"Now you are lucky if you can get two cars parked.
"We are coming to arrange funeral flowers for my late husband and it has been a real pain."
The project had been hailed as Norfolk County Council's flagship projects to encourage cycling.
The scheme, funded by the government's Active Travel Fund, has seen the creation of a new cycle lane on each side of the road.
New zebra crossings have been introduced while new reflective wands have been added to separate the road from the cycle lanes.
Since work has been completed, new issues have emerged with cars stopping in the cycle lanes and vehicles blocking them off while making deliveries.
Julie Hall, 64, who lives on Middleton Road and uses her bicycle, said: "If someone is parked on the cycle lane you have to ride on the pavement.
"I cycle to the James Paget to get to work and binmen getting the waste bins are parked in the cycle lanes."
Anthony Hollis, 64 and another bicycle user, said: "I think it is a lot of money for what it is.
"If they had widened the pavement they wouldn't have had to do any of this.
"They could have just made the pavement wider.
"Riding on the pavement is safer than riding on the road."
Another man living on the road who did not want to be named, said: "It is a wide road that has now been narrowed.
"When you have two cars it is not too bad but with a lorry it is a nightmare.
"Most people cycle on the footpath. The only thing I agree with is the crossings."
Benjamin Elks, grassroots development manager at the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "Local taxpayers are right to be outraged by this half-million-pound white elephant.
"Norfolk County Council has managed the rare feat of spending a fortune to make a road less functional for drivers, less profitable for shopkeepers, and even less safe for the very cyclists they claim to be helping.
"Local authorities need to stop prioritising flagship vanity projects over the common-sense concerns of the people who actually live and work on these streets."
Norfolk County Council has been contacted for comment.
