The bane of any cyclist’s journey on two wheels is a blocked cycle lane, forcing riders onto pavements or unexpectedly into traffic, creating unexpected danger for all road users.
Last February, Bexley Borough Council dismissed concerns that a segregated cycle lane outside a primary school was blocked by parked cars on the school run by arguing “it’s only twice a day”, i.e. when commuters and pupils are most likely to want to use it.
Then, in November 2024, we reported on the inquest into the death of 16-year-old Rhys Shepherd who was killed by a bus driver when he was forced to ride on the pavement and into the driver’s blind spot when cars blocked a cycle lane in Grimsby. He was cycling to his first day of college.
Thankfully, councillors in Gloucester have acknowledged the issue of blocked cycle lanes and have begun proposing alternatives. Their best solution? Free parking.
Gloucester City Council’s Local Democracy Reporter reports the suggestion is the latest proposal as part of the council’s efforts to overhaul its current parking scheme. The other proposal is the attempt to introduce overnight parking charges to deter vehicles from blocking the cycle lane in the long term.
The free parking would be short-term, with the latest council committee meeting proposing a grace period of 10-20 minutes. The “pitstop” proposal is specifically aimed at tackling cycle lane blocking on Southgate Street, by encouraging drivers to park away from the unsegregated cycle lane. Screenshots captured on Google Streetview show the bike lane being consistently blocked by cars over the past decade.
“As a non-car driver and a cyclist, it is the bane of my life, the people who park on Southgate Street and block that cycle lane,” Cllr Karen James said in a recent committee meeting.
“It is dangerous. Especially when we are trying to encourage people to come through into the main cycle lane where it comes down towards The Cross.
“People parking and delivering to those shops just block the whole of the cycle lane and you are having to go out around them constantly.”
Cllr Andrew Gravells added that the problem was “lethal” and appeared to be caused by drivers parked across the cycle lane overnight, disputing another councillor’s claim that the lane blocking was was “allowed early in the morning.”
The pitstop proposal was suggested by Cllr Liam Harris, who said “there are quite a lot of people who park on the road by the takeaways and vape shops,” and argued “a quick pit stop, a free period that would allow people to park and pop in very quickly into town for free,” could solve the issue.
“Either for deliveries to shops or customers, say if you want to go into town because you want to just pick something up or need to go to the bank for say ten minutes.”
Possible locations for the pitstop parking spaces would be near the Spalite hotel and Southgate Moorings, though no timescale has been specified for when these changes could be introduced. However the willingness to address the issue of cycle infrastructure is an improvement on the historic approach taken by the wider local authority.
In 2021, Gloucestershire County Council received less than a tenth of the funding they bid for from central government for infrastructure spending after its cycleway proposal was deemed “inadequate” for its “poor and indirect provision at junctions” and an overall design that “does not adequately address the issue of motor vehicle dominance.”