Question on whether Sheffield cycling schemes are really worth the money
A Sheffield councillor has questioned whether proposals to make cycling easier on city roads are actually resulting in more people taking to two wheels.
Coun Glynis Chapman raised the issue at the July meeting of Sheffield City Council’s planning and highways committee (July 21). The meeting approved capital spending on several cycling-related schemes, with money provided by outside funding.
These were:
- Development work costing £142,000 for a crossing on the Inner Ring Road at Bridgehouses, Neepsend, to make it easier for those cycling or on foot to cross the heavy traffic;
- £20,000 for feasibility works on providing cycle storage hangars in residential areas;
- A £46,000 budget for cycling infrastructure such as bollards, drop kerbs and traffic filters on East Coast Road, Earl Street, Whtie Lane, Hurlfield Road/Toll Bar Road, John Street and Five Weirs Walk;
- An £89,000 increase in the budget for the Sheaf Valley cycle route between Norton Hammer and Sheaf Quay.
Coun Chapman said: “Lots of money being spent on active travel schemes, all on cycling. Do we measure cycling?
“We’ve spent an awful lot of money and I’ve not seen many more cycles around the city as I’m driving around. I wondered if we knew if we’d spent all this money for just a few people because it seems to me the elderly, the disabled, young people who can’t afford to buy a cycle are missing out.
“All the money is being spent on cycling and we need to know that it’s worthwhile.”
Finance manager Damian Watkinson said there are cycle counters and he would ask transport department colleagues to provide figures. He said that funding is aimed at increasing the numbers of bike journeys.
Coun Douglas Johnson said that, as a Sheaf Valley cycle route user, he had seen more people using it and the demographic of riders had changed from just “sweaty men in Lycra”. That included more women and children riding bikes.
He said the aim of providing cycle hangars was to allow people to have bikes rather than cars, especially in areas where they live in small houses, making bike-riding open to a wider group of people.