Town Council traffic topic

Wed 17 Nov 2021, 20:47

Richard, pure hyperbole to claim that cycling via the Churchyard requires somebody to be a lycra-clad superfit cyclist on a carbon fibre bike. Yes, there's a moderate climb up Church Street and a slight rise along Church Lane but it's hardly a major test. Frankly, if somebody is put off that, then they aren't going to be much suited to cycling in town as the place is full of much steeper climbs.

Nobody is going to turn Charlbury into some sort of version of a town in the Netherlands, most of which are famously flat. It's a small place, and much more suited to walking than cycling; hardly anywhere is more than 15 minutes walk from Spendlove. Most cyclists that come through the town are there for leisure or fitness reasons, and due to the nature of the area, that's unlikely to change much.

I'd rather see effort towards pedestrians, and especially those who are not so fit through advancing years. Much of the town is particularly unsuited to wheelchairs or mobility scooters. The routes up from the town centre to Ticknell Piece and the Green are generally awful, with that dangerous junction on the Enstone Road or the extremely poorly surfaced Crawborough being the only options (and I realise the latter is a private road which massively complicates things). 

As for people riding on the pavement on Market Street because they aren't allowed "the wrong way" on the road, then I think that very unlikely. A far more likely reason is that if somebody is cycling the wrong way up Market Street, then they are very likely to come across a vehicle coming the opposite way and they will have to dismount as the road is simply not wide enough for much of its length to allow a cyclist and vehicle to pass one another (and especially with some of the vans and commercial vehicles that come down the road). Allowing cyclists to rise contra-traffic isn't going to change that factor one bit. In fact it would well increase with many more cyclists following that route rather than via the Churchyard.