Council still at war with Velolife

Ryka's Cafe at the foot of Box Hill in Surrey, famous as a magnet for 100s of bikers, cyclists, and walkers either solo or meeting in organised groups...no bother!

Council digs itself deeper into a hole over legal threat to Velolife Café

Last Friday, Velolife café owner Lee Goodwin was still facing the threat of legal action if cyclists meet in organised rides in breach of planning rules; say the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council.

A week after this absurd story first broke attempts by both Cycling UK and British Cycling to persuade the council to soften its aggressive approach have only

resulted in the council digging themselves deeper into a hole.

This dispute kicked off when the council received a complaint that cyclists at the café were considered a nuisance by local residents.

Just how they were a nuisance wasn’t explained.

We have since learned two things. It seems likely that the sight of cyclists upset someone or some persons. Lowered the tone of the neighbourhood!

I venture to suggest this after reading a comment from council inspector who denied that the “visual effects” of cyclists congregating at the site was “harmful to the character and appearance” of the area. 

Which suggests to me that some discriminating nasty had said they were?

But the real reason for the upset appears to be access.

We now learn that next door to Velolife is a small cottage. There is a drive way to the cottage and this passes the side door to the café.  The driveway separates the café from the café car park and bike sheds.

It means that people who have parked cars or bikes there then walk across the driveway to reach the café.

The complaint is that, on occasion, the owners of the cottage, who have right of access over the drive, have at times not been able to access their property.

It must be added that the Velolife business does not own the drive. The drive is the property of the freeholder of that land.



Now, if a resident complains that access to their home is being impeded, the council should look into this and act to determine the weight of the claim.


Instead, it seems the council have gone to war by trying to put off cyclists going to the café in the first place!

They had first targeted cycling clubs by threatening them with legal action if they organised rides to and from the café and then rescinded that

by saying cyclists are welcome to use the facilities “but must not arrange organised meets that start, end or stop at the café.”

If they do so Velolife café could face legal action.

When pressed by Cycling UK to define exactly what constitutes  an organised ride or meet, the council declined to explain. Probably because they don’t know.

This is the sort of satire we enjoyed from Monty Python, and which had us in stitches. The five minute argument comes to mind. The Ministry of Silly Walks.

Except this is real for the owner of the café, a nightmare. 

The Royal Borough has demonstrated they do not know the first rule of holes. Which is, when in one, stop digging.

Council threatens legal action against cycling clubs organising rides!

STUPID:  lacking intelligence; unable to think clearly.

The council of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead are stupid, say Cycling Weekly in their editorial (August 15).

Cyclists have been threatened with legal action if they meet up at the Velolife Café to go riding!!!

Apparently, a number of local residents had complained they were being disturbed by cyclists.

It’s an amazing story and you can’t help but wonder if being stupid is part of the wider condition which has given rise to discrimination against “others”.

Is this stupidity in the Royal Borough part of the contagion spreading rapidly across the planet?  Stupidity on the grand scale was first identified in the USA a few years ago when Trump was on the ascendancy to the presidency. There was a tee-shirt with this warning message, “Never underestimate the power of the stupid.”

And so it proved. The stupid condition then spread to the UK effecting 17 million people who voted to “Leave” the European Union.

If this is so, the tentacles of the stupid are now spreading like bind weed across the nation.

A particularly virulent strain seems to have wrapped itself about the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the form of discrimination against cycling.

So what has the Royal Borough done?  Cycling Weekly report they threatened cyclists “with legal action for just meeting for a ride, claiming they were a nuisance” and then the council clarified this further by adding “around Velolife Café near Reading”.

You couldn’t make this up.

The café is a former pub and the issue centres on its new use as a café with a “cycling theme”. It includes a workshop and some retail sales.

The council wanted the former pub to be used as a community facility, and they say its use as a cycling facility has not complied with planning permission.

Surely, it has! It’s a community facility with a cycling theme!

This did not cut any ice with the council and a certificate of lawfulness was served in the enforcement notice.

This is bureaucracy gone mad. You might think it could be sorted without resorting to the threat of legal action. We don’t practice black magic, or rev our cars up in the car park. Well, I don’t even have a car.

 Perhaps the council were influenced by Channel 5 tvs stupid programme casting cyclists as the enemy of motorists.

On the other hand, perhaps this is the work of THE computer. 

Planning application is fed into computer. Computer reveals that not all the boxes are ticked according to whatever.  Alarms go off. Lights flash. A Dalek voice barks “Ex-ter-min-ate, Ex-ter-min-ate”.

Council employee with instructions not to question the computer does as the computer bids, hits a red button.  In a trice legal letters fly across an executive’s desk and, coming as they do from the computer which knows no wrong, dutifully signs them off and out they go first class.

Or maybe not. Perhaps there really is a Mr Halfwit directing this operation.

I can recall no such council hostility shown Bike Beans Cycle Café in Ashtead, Surrey, a wonderful café which once operated a cycling club and became a cycling centre for led rides. When it closed after a number of years it was because the proprietor had other business ventures to pursue.

The Windsor and Maidenhead council made themselves look even more foolish when they sought to clarify their first declaration - by saying cyclists are welcome to use the facilities “but must not arrange organised meets that start, end or stop at the café.”

So in other words cyclists can use the café just so long as they don’t cycle there!

This would be a laugh if it had not caused the proprietor so much stress.

It all smacks of authoritarianism.

Meanwhile, since all this kicked off the council leader has paid the café a visit, so perhaps there is hope. Apparently not.

BREAKING NEWS:

After meeting with cycling  organisations Cycling UK and British Cycling, a few days ago at which it seemed matters had been partly resolved, the council then issued another statement rowing back on their first.

This from Cycling UK, defenders of cyclists’ rights dated August 15.

"Cycling UK was informed a few hours ago that the Council had informed Mr Goodwin (Proprietor of Velolife) today that, notwithstanding their statement that no action would be taken against clubs attending Velolife, Mr Goodwin still needed to ensure that clubs did not use the café as a stop before, during or after organised rides, and that to do so would breach the terms of the draft injunction the Council has sought.

BREAKING NEWS 2.

The ghost of F. T. Bidlake (The Father of Time Trialling a century ago) makes a timely appearance to suggest cyclists visiting Velolife dress all in black and leave at one minute intervals so as not to draw attention to themselves – just as they did time trialling in Victorian times to avoid detection when road racing was banned.

Giz us the money

Cycling investment frozen stiff

Gis us the money

Anyone watching the European cycle road race championships from Alkmaar in the Netherlands on Eurosport TV at the weekend can’t have failed to have noticed the well-designed cycle routes on every road.

Britain has nothing like it. Nothing even remotely approaching the provision for cycling in the Netherlands can be found anywhere in the UK.

And it is not for want of asking.

We’re asking again. Or rather Paul Tuohy, Chief executive of Cycling UK, is. He has written to all Cycling UK members and asked them to write to the transport secretary in a bid to get the government to invest in cycling.

The bid to get decent investment in cycling has become the longest running farce in the sorry tale of UK cycle campaigning because successive governments simply refuse to budge.

In 50 years the ending never changes.
There are good ministers who agree with everything the campaigners proclaim about the undoubted benefits to making cycling safer on the roads, that this needs serious investment.

And the government of the day then does fuck all about it.

Well, they pass the buck to Local Authorities who generally haven’t a clue –with the notable exception of Manchester today - still less any money.

Even so, the Bee Network initiative in Manchester, devised by former Olympic champion Chris Boardman, is being driven by cycling friendly Mayor Andy Burnham. And I wonder if it is written in stone that his work continues when he goes?

As regards the national picture, the sad fact is that in recent years the Treasury has gradually reduced spending on cycling to less £1 per person.

The day the government agrees to put the £billions into cycling as transport is the day pigs will fly.

Nevertheless, as hopeless as it seems, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Cycling UK’s appeal does deserve the wider support of the growing cycling public.  Even though the transport secretary will probably have no more luck than any other MPs have had over the past 50 years trying to get decent money for cycling out of the Treasury.

Why is this cycling investment a non-runner?  Word has it that after the War when motoring became affordable and car ownership soared, the government considered it wise to facilitate this growth so that drivers could motor anywhere they wanted.

And ever since, every government has feared doing anything that may be construed as a restriction of this precious right. And lose votes!

You might think that with the huge rise in numbers of people cycling – over £2million now ride once a week – the government might respond.

Surely, cycling is now vote winner. Especially as the majority of cyclists are also drivers.

Over to Paul who says: 

How does the Government hope to double levels of cycling without at least doubling the money it invests?

That’s the question I asked the Transport Secretary when I wrote to him last week.

Over 1,500 members and supporters also wrote to him asking the same question. Given changes in various ministerial posts in recent days it’s perhaps no surprise that we’ve not received responses yet, but the appointment of Chris Heaton-Harris MP as the Minister gives us a golden opportunity to pile on the pressure for proper investment in active travel.

That’s why I really need your help.

Replying to constituents who wrote to him about our funding campaign, Mr Heaton-Harris said:

“It seems strange that for ages cycling has been seen as a niche activity, rather than a normal activity for all. If we can increase levels of walking and cycling, the benefits are substantial. For people, it means cheaper travel and better health. For business, it means increased productivity and increased footfall in shops. And for society as a whole it means lower congestion, better air quality, and vibrant, attractive places and communities."

I couldn’t agree more, and he’s now in a position to do something about it!

So, I’m writing to ask him to do just that, explaining that we’re currently facing a climate crisis, a congestion crisis, a pollution crisis and an inactivity-related health crisis.  Underpinning all of these is a long-term ‘underfunding of cycling and walking crisis’.

Good luck, Paul.