Campaigners welcome council’s U-turn on installing “discriminatory” barriers on cycling and walking routes The barriers, which Stockport Council hoped would combat anti-social behaviour, were criticised for restricting access for disabled people cycling
Stockport Council’s decision to backtrack on its plans to introduce more barriers on cycling and walking routes has been welcomed by campaigners, who said that the barriers would discriminate against disabled people who use non-standard cycles, wheelchairs, and mobility aids.on a draft ‘access control’ policy in the wake of new government guidance concerning the design of “high quality, safe cycling infrastructure”.
“I think in the way we have got unsafe, selfish, speeding, erratic car drivers, we also have the same with cyclists and we also have the same with people on scooters,” Fitzpatrick told Stockport Council in February. “The very basic bare minimum the council should be doing, they don’t reach that, which morally is pretty disgusting. There’s a minimum and the council is trying to worm their way out of it,” Harrie Larrington-Spencer, a researcher at the University of Salford who specialises in inclusive active travel, said in response to the policy.
Following this backlash, the council’s policy – which was signed off earlier this week – has been significantly altered so that “there will be a general presumption against the use of access controls on new or upgraded routes”,Colin MacAlister, cabinet member for economy and regeneration, told a meeting of Stockport Council on Tuesday that ensuring disabled people could use “those very important routes” was at the forefront of the council’s proposals.
The council’s U-turn has been praised by active travel group Walk Ride Stockport, which says it is “a welcome improvement on the original proposal”. “I think that it’s great that SMBC have recognised that their original access control policy was discriminatory towards disabled people who use mobility aids and non-standard cycles,” she said.
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