{"id":36980,"date":"2025-08-01T00:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T00:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/36980\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T00:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T00:34:09","slug":"controversial-town-centre-bike-ban-overturned-after-thousands-of-cyclists-aggressively-fined-as-new-order-aims-to-crack-down-on-dangerous-cycling-not-res","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/36980\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversial town centre bike ban overturned after thousands of cyclists \u201caggressively\u201d fined \u2013 as new order aims to crack down on \u201cdangerous\u201d cycling, not responsible riders"},"content":{"rendered":"

A controversial cycling ban in Bedford has been lifted as part of a new suite of measures designed to prevent anti-social behaviour in the town centre, after thousands of cyclists were \u201caggressively\u201d fined in recent years, prompting backlash from local campaigners who branded the ban \u201cdiscriminatory\u201d<\/a> and claimed it \u201cmade nobody safer at all\u201d.<\/p>\n

This week, Bedford mayor Tom Wooton signed off on a new, revised Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO)<\/a>, which will enable locals to ride their bikes in certain parts of the town centre for the first time since 2016.<\/p>\n

The revised order, which will run for three years, now only prohibits \u201cdangerous or aggressive\u201d cycling in these areas, following concerns that the previous PSPO was unfairly and disproportionately impacting responsible and co-operative cyclists, especially those with mobility issues.<\/p>\n

Like many other towns and cities throughout the UK that we\u2019ve reported on in recent times<\/a>, Bedford\u2019s PSPO banning cycling in certain pedestrianised areas was brought in with the cited aim of cracking down on \u201canti-social behaviour\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, just as in Grimsby, where its shopping street cycling ban has become something of a saga in recent years<\/a>, the bike ban in Bedford has been viewed by critics as a money-making exercise that only serves to discourage locals from riding their bikes into town to visit the shops, while failing to clamp down on actual instance of anti-social or nuisance behaviour.<\/p>\n

>\u00a0“Majority of cyclists are reasonable people and will dismount”: Cycling campaign opposes controversial town centre cycle ban which has seen “738 cyclists fined in last few months”<\/a><\/p>\n

Under the previous PSPO, which according to Bedford Borough Council was put in place \u201cfollowing a consultation suggesting that reckless riding of bicycles in Bedford town centre was reducing the quality of life of residents\u201d, cycling was not permitted in certain parts of the town centre between 9am and 6pm.<\/p>\n

Since the ban was introduced, thousands of Fixed Penalty Notices have been issued to people riding their bikes in Bedford town centre, perhaps most famously when, in 2019, ultra-distance cyclist Josh Quigley was slapped with a \u00a375 fine for cycling through the town<\/a> just a week into his second \u2013 and ultimately successful \u2013 round-the-world ride.<\/p>\n

During the same year, cycling advocate Jeremy Vine offered to pay the fine of a woman caught breaching the PSPO<\/a>, because the broadcaster didn\u2019t \u201cwant her to be put off cycling for a second\u201d.<\/p>\n

The order, which was also the subject of protest group rides by local cycling campaigners<\/a>, was originally due to expire in 2022 but was extended by the council \u2013 despite a consultation revealing that 54 per cent of residents were opposed to the town centre cycling ban<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In October 2024, the \u201caggressive\u201d nature of the fining process, which like elsewhere is carried out by externally contracted wardens, a local Labour councillor claimed that she had been \u201cinundated with complaints from residents that have been fined dismounting their bikes\u201d<\/a> in the town centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are supposed to be encouraging people to cycle into town. Should we be fining people who are using their bikes to go into town?\u201d asked councillor Caroline White, prompting the council\u2019s chief environment officer Paul Pace to claim that he had witnessed \u201cbicycles flying through the town centre\u201d and that the order enabled pedestrians to have a \u201csafe place where they can actually not worry about bicycles\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"BedfordBedford town centre (credit: Google Street View)<\/p>\n

Later in October, Peter Blakeman, Chair of the Cycling Campaign for North Bedfordshire, said in a letter to the local newspaper that, despite initial assurances from the council that only those \u201cirresponsible\u201d individuals displaying \u201canti-social behaviour\u201d would be fined, thousands of cyclists have indeed been stopped and issued financial penalties<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cA number of these were UK\/European tourists while the perpetrators who caused the anti-social behaviour remained fine-free,\u201d he suggested. \u201cIn the last few months, a further 738 cyclists have been fined. The outcome has been a large drop in residents cycling to the town to do their shopping, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also argued that part of the reason why some cyclists use the pedestrianised areas is because \u201cthere are currently no safe north-south or east-west cycle routes through the town centre\u201d and that \u201cthe majority of cyclists are reasonable people and will dismount if an area becomes too congested\u201d, without need for being slapped with fines just for cycling to the shops.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the council launched a consultation on the planned update to the PSPO, prompting a renewed wave of campaigning from cycling activists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current system is fines imposed on slow and co-operative cyclists, ignoring those who are too fast to stop. It makes nobody safer at all,\u201d Cycle Bedford said in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need as much input as possible so that safe and considerate cycling is not lumped in with anti-social behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CycleCycle Bedford PSPO campaign (credit: Cycle Bedford)<\/p>\n

Of the 656 locals who responded to the consultation, 72 per cent said they either strongly agreed or agreed with the proposal to introduce a new PSPO in Bedford town centre.<\/p>\n

And this week, Bedford Council approved the new measures, which will introduce expanded restrictions on issues such as alcohol consumption, spitting, and defecation in public spaces, and will be in place for three years.<\/p>\n

Most of the new PSPO, which also includes littering in enclosed public spaces, the use of illegal drugs, begging, and riding e-scooters or skateboards, constitutes an even stronger clampdown on anti-social behaviour than the previous order.<\/p>\n

>\u00a0Bike ban council wants “safe place where people don’t worry about bicycles” and claims cyclists “fly through town centre” \u2013 but cyclists say they are being fined for dismounting and pushing their bikes<\/a><\/p>\n

However, due to concerns raised during the consultation, the original proposal to retain the ban on cycling in pedestrianised areas between 9am and 6pm was revised.<\/p>\n

The order now prohibits only dangerous or aggressive cycling or e-bike riding, with the council saying that the revised ban will address safety concerns while avoiding a \u201cdisproportionate\u201d impact on responsible cyclists, especially those with mobility issues.<\/p>\n

According to CCTV analysis carried out by the local authority, 459 incidents involving \u201cdangerous\u201d cycling in the proposed PSPO area took place over a three-month period in 2024, those figures \u201cfurther reinforcing the need for intervention\u201d, the council says.<\/p>\n

Active travel charity Cycling UK has long been a prominent critic of PSPOs, which it claims have the effect of criminalising cycling.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome councils have used PSPOs as a geographically defined version of an ASBO to restrict the use of public space and criminalise behaviour not normally regarded as illegal,\u201d Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK\u2019s head of campaigns, has previously said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A controversial cycling ban in Bedford has been lifted as part of a new suite of measures designed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-36980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}