{"id":55072,"date":"2025-08-09T14:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T14:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/55072\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T14:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T14:04:08","slug":"cyclist-injuries-dropped-by-half-after-hated-cycle-lane-installed-but-mayor-still-claims-scrapped-lane-largely-used-as-bike-run-for-drug-dealers-to-get-th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/55072\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyclist injuries dropped by half after \u201chated\u201d cycle lane installed, but mayor still claims scrapped lane largely used as \u201cbike run\u201d for drug dealers to \u201cget through traffic\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Middlesbrough\u2019s Linthorpe Road cycle lane<\/a> \u2013 the centre of one of the UK\u2019s longest-running and most controversial cycling infrastructure sagas of recent years \u2013 is finally set to meet its end in a few weeks, with work to rip out the much-derided protected lane scheduled to begin on 26 August.<\/p>\n

The contentious, \u201chated\u201d cycle lane\u2019s impending removal, however, hasn\u2019t prevented one of the local mayors at the heart of the saga from aiming a few final digs in its direction.<\/p>\n

According to Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen this week, the Linthorpe Road bike lane was largely used by drug dealers and children \u201ccausing problems\u201d \u2013 despite new figures revealing that since its installation in 2022, the percentage of cyclist injuries on the road dropped by half, while the number of cyclists using the road increased by 70 per cent.<\/p>\n

Last month, we reported that Middlesbrough\u2019s Labour mayor Chris Cooke confirmed that the protected cycle lane on Linthorpe Road would be ripped out at the end of August to the tune of \u00a32.17m<\/a>, bringing an end to over three years of bizarre shoplifting-themed complaints<\/a>, a series of injuries<\/a>, opposition from furious local business owners<\/a>, and political spats fought out over social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

>\u00a0End of a \u201csorry chapter\u201d: Britain\u2019s most controversial cycle lane finally confirmed for removal in project worth over \u00a32 million<\/a><\/p>\n

However, this week Cooke revealed that several other road safety features which were introduced as part of the active travel scheme will remain following the lane\u2019s removal. This means the pedestrian crossing installed at the same time as the bike lane will be retained, along with the road\u2019s 20mph speed limit.<\/p>\n

Cooke also confirmed that some side streets off Linthorpe Road will remain closed to motor vehicles, and the road narrowing measures introduced to make way for the bike lane will also stay. This road narrowing at junctions will be kept to help reduce vehicle speed and pedestrian crossing distances, Middlesbrough Council said.<\/p>\n

\"LinthorpeLinthorpe Road, Middlesbrough July 2023 (credit: Google Maps)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still committed to encouraging active travel, including walking and cycling, but they need to be the right schemes in the right places,\u201d Cooke said in a statement confirming the date of the lane\u2019s removal.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, his Tees Valley counterpart, Conservative politician Ben Houchen \u2013 who has clashed repeatedly with Cooke over the timing of the lane\u2019s scrapping, and how it should be funded \u2013 told BBC Radio Tees<\/a> this week that the cycle lane was largely used by children \u201ccausing problems\u201d and drug dealers who took advantage of it as a \u201cbike run to be able to get through traffic\u201d.<\/p>\n

Houchen\u2019s claim that the bike lane was mostly used by drug dealers making quick, segregated getaways echoed the doom-laden predictions made by local businessowners before the infrastructure was even installed, who said it would enable shoplifters and other criminals to flee from police<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And while there are no figures to back up these claims that the Linthorpe Road cycle lane has become a haven for Middlesbrough\u2019s drug dealers, the BBC also reported this week that it has, in fact, contributed to fewer injuries for people on bikes on the road.<\/p>\n

In response to a Freedom of Information request lodged by the broadcaster, Middlesbrough Council revealed a smaller proportion of injuries on Linthorpe Road had involved cyclists after the bike lane was installed compared to previous years.<\/p>\n

The council said that between 2015 and 2021 there were 57 injuries on the road, of which 23 per cent (14) involved cyclists.<\/p>\n

But between 2022 and 2024, after the cycle lane was added, just 12 per cent (three) of the 26 injuries recorded were people on bikes.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, data published by the council last year showed that the protected cycle lane, for all its faults, contributed to the number of cyclists using the road increasing by 70 per cent, at the same time injuries were falling.<\/p>\n

>\u00a0\u201cYou need a degree to work out the system\u201d: Local business owners welcome decision to rip out \u201cabsolute disaster\u201d cycle lane which led to \u201clots of customers\u201d getting parking tickets<\/a><\/p>\n

But despite the apparent success of the scheme in purely cycling terms, this month\u2019s removal will finally bring end to over two years of acrimony and accusations surrounding one of the UK\u2019s most contentious stretches of active travel infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Back in 2022, before the project \u2013 approved by the North Yorkshire town\u2019s former independent mayor Andy Preston \u2013 was even completed, traders on the street raised concerns about car parking for customers<\/a>, along with (as noted above) the scheme\u2019s potential to act as a getaway lane for shoplifters and drug dealers.<\/p>\n

\"OrcaOrca lane divider (image via North East Motorcycle Action Group) (credit: road.cc)<\/p>\n

Once installed, the low Orca dividers initially introduced to separate the bike lane from traffic through \u2018light\u2019 segregation were almost immediately condemned for creating a safety hazard for cyclists and pedestrians, while also failing to deter motorists from illegally driving or parking in the cycle lane.<\/p>\n

In October 2022, cyclist Paul Harris \u2013 who was hospitalised after being hitting one of the Orca separators<\/a> \u2013 claimed that the layout forced people on bikes to \u201cconstantly\u201d dodge parked cars, buses, and pedestrians, and that a comprehensive overhaul of the lane was required \u201cbefore someone gets killed\u201d.<\/p>\n

The 50-year-old\u2019s nasty spill came less than two months after a 78-year-old woman was left with a broken wrist, a black eye, and concussion<\/a> after tripping over one of the bike lane markers on the same road, while a 27-year-old fractured her elbow on a night out while crossing the lane.<\/p>\n

Despite the council addressing these safety concerns by replacing the Orcas with wands, and then-mayor Preston scrapping plans for the cycle lane\u2019s extension<\/a>, the infrastructure has since proved a tense, and often messy, political battleground.<\/p>\n

\"LinthorpeLinthorpe Road cycle lane flytipping (credit: road.cc reader)<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s Cooke, who replaced Preston as Middlesbrough\u2019s mayor in 2023, made the cycle lane\u2019s removal a key part of his election campaign<\/a>, claiming it had \u201ccaused nothing but injury and mayhem\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, he quickly came under pressure from residents and political opponents<\/a> for his \u201cabysmal failure\u201d to immediately rip out the lane, with Cooke claiming that the works would go ahead once the necessary funds were available<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tees Valley mayor Houchen also then publicly criticised Cooke\u2019s apparent dithering<\/a>, claiming that \u201cothers have promised and failed\u201d to remove the bike lane. But in early 2024, in an abrupt about-turn, the two feuding mayors united after reaching an agreement to rip out the \u201cunpopular\u201d infrastructure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"LabourLabour mayor Chris Cooke and Conservative mayor Ben Houcham celebrate removal of Middlesbrough cycle lane, Linthorpe Road (credit: Tees Valley Combined Authority)<\/p>\n

However, in yet another twist, that brief anti-cycle lane d\u00e9tente was later shattered<\/a> after Houchen claimed that \u2013 despite Tees Valley Combined Authority being ready \u201cto put spades in the ground\u201d after agreeing to fund the project \u2013 the ongoing delays to the works were a result of Middlesbrough Council recommending that the cycle lane be kept.<\/p>\n

Houchen claimed that Middlesbrough Council \u201cignored local people\u201d by recommending that the infrastructure should, in fact, remain in place, despite a majority of residents \u2013 75 per cent, according to Houchen \u2013 supporting plans to reinstate the previous layout in a consultation carried out last August<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, despite the recommendation from council officers that plans to remove the cycle lane should be scrapped, Cooke said \u201cit has always been my intention to overrule any such recommendations\u201d, which he said contradicted the wishes of locals, and that Houchen was \u201cevading his responsibilities\u201d to fund the lane\u2019s removal.<\/p>\n

Things finally came to a head last December, when Middlesbrough Council approved the plans to remove the lane, with TVCA agreeing to fund the works<\/a>. In July, the authorities confirmed, after months of delays, that the removal process would begin later this month<\/a>, bringing an end, as Houchen said, to \u201cthis sorry chapter for Middlesbrough\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is about time, and we can finally turn the page on this sorry chapter for Middlesbrough. I said I\u2019d sort it for the council, and it is going. Let\u2019s get it ripped out, and let local businesses get back to their lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Middlesbrough\u2019s Linthorpe Road cycle lane \u2013 the centre of one of the UK\u2019s longest-running and most controversial cycling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-55072","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\/55072","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=55072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}