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news
Mayals Road (StreetView)Angry residents threaten to chain themselves to trees over cycle lane
Residents opposing a new cycle path in Swansea are threatening to chain themselves to trees which are due to be cut down for its construction, according to a councillor.
The BBC reports that Swansea Council is planning a new cycle route along Mayals Road, linking the seafront to Clyne Common and ultimately on to Bishopston.
The plan is for two-way cycle routes at either end and a single route either side of the carriageway along the middle section.
However, Linda Tyler-Lloyd, the local councillor for the area, said that residents were "up in arms" at the plans – chiefly because they would involve the felling of 19 trees.
"Cyclists I have spoken to are quite happy about going up Mayals Road as it is,” she said. “It is a beautiful avenue with mature trees. People are threatening to chain themselves to the trees. I have only had one email saying they were for it."
Councillor Mark Thomas, cabinet member for environment enhancement and infrastructure management, said it was wrong that the trees were only being felled for the cycle route.
"The assumption that trees along Mayals Road are being felled to make way for a cycle route is wrong," he said.
"Not acting now and leaving this work until later, not only puts lives at risk from trees collapsing but also leaves the council without the funds needed to carry out a replanting programme."
The council plans to plant two new trees for each one that is cut down.
John Sayce, chairman of Wheelrights, said the Swansea Bay cycle campaign group was broadly supportive of the scheme.
"The current plans have several aspects that we are supportive of," he said. "We are pleased that cyclists are being given precedence over motor traffic at several junctions, that road space has been reallocated for cyclists' use and that there are separate lanes on both sides of the road to avoid possible conflict with pedestrians.
"However, at the moment, Wheelrights members do not have an agreed position on the current plans, so are currently compiling a list of concerns that they wish the council to address."
Mayals Road resident Mark Parkin said people were also against other elements, such as the narrowing of the motor vehicle carriageway to accommodate the cycle path.
He also said residents would have to cross the cycle path to access Mayals Road from their drives and that buses at bus stops would result in queueing traffic.
"It looks like a done deal,” he said. “The first I knew about it was a snippet in the Evening Post about three months ago."
Councillor Thomas said that Mayals Road had been identified as a key cycle route in 2017 and had been the subject of a three-month consultation.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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23 comments
This has always been a dangerous road for cyclists, cycle way is needed. Most roadies etc will have no problem, its getting younger people and new cyclists to use this route
Put the cycle route in a tunnel - save the trees and send the bill to the tree huggers - simples
put the cars in a tunnel, and make the existing carriageway available to cyclists and pedestrians
Speaking as someone who's cycled this road loads, I would be against the cutting down of these trees. I'd settle for a cycle path on the up hill side where you're moving slowly and impatient drivers are passing dangerously, on the downhill side you're moving fast enough to stay with traffic and it's safe enough. A path on the one side could be accommodated without much tree felling IMO. A bigger and better target for a path would be on the clyne common itself as it's a fast narrow road and I know riders who've been hit by cars there.
Did you not read the article? The trees are being removed due to the danger they currently pose.. nothing to do with the proposed cycle lane.
I'm sure residents were up in arms when trees were cut down to make the road for cars...no?
It is not the cycle path that is causing the death of the trees, it is the drivers being unwilling to give up their space. Leave the trees where they are and give up one of the existing road lanes to a segregated cycle path.
The problem with taking down mature trees (or hedges) is the effect on bio-diversity. The longer a habitat stays in place the more species can move in and establish themselves.
I thought that chopping down trees because they might become dangerous was banished to the history books.
I guess the cycle path excuse is the current version. They did it here (Woking) when Sustrans and the local council improved the canal path.
You can't stand in the progress, especially if you are a tree.
Councils have liability cover for trees. A neighbouring council to mine actually had liability cover refused because trees were dangerous. There were protests about removing those trees too, then 17 of them fell over in a storm.
Most people look at a tree and only see what's above ground, they don't consider that the root system can be severely restricted by the road construction. Unlike a tree in open ground the hard packed road base doesn't allow roots to grow easily, exacerbated by the compression of vehicular traffic and the root system grows asymmetrically, so the mass of the canopy isn't balanced by the root system. It's not healthy for the tree, and it's a risk for the public.
The procedure now is to use root vaults to allow the tree to develop a deeper, more symmetrical root system while protecting them from the pressure of traffic. It's a much better long term solution. It's also common to replace existing trees with a greater number of smaller species as it reduces the management issues while improving tree cover.
Every highway or public park tree is, in the eyes of local people, "perfectly healthy" at times like this, and the Council for some unknown reason, vandals.
There are many woodland trees in the wrong (suburban) setting - they get overgrown, diseased and potentially dangerous, worst case. (In Ealing they're even a reason not to have an LTN!) Not that you want there to be a lasting "smell" if the cycle path takes their place. Planting Appropriate replacements is fine, so long as you can keep the local vandals away.
Not knowing any other, lets assume the trees do need to come down anyhow.
A common situation for councils is to have work you know needs doing, but funding to do it has been squeezed away by other demands and so things sit there, although the risk is known. But.... if you can get external funding for the cyclepath, then problem solved, that can be used to remove your problem trees as part of the same project, no extra money to be found from Council budgets, and liability taken care of.
There are lots of council "why don't they just...." questions that come down to the sometimes strange ways projects get (or don't get) funded.
I'm all for building cycle paths but never at the expense of falling a row of mature trees.
Mature trees that are due to be cut down anyway
Always intrigued by the way folk object strongly to cutting down mayute trees, surely the young tree and saplings are more important, as without them you will naturally run out off mature ones anyway
Due to be cut down for no good reason. The risk of collapse is a bunch of bollocks to make it seem like they're doing the right thing.
Care to enlighten us with actual facts? such as the arborist report that the council undoubtedly has in hand..
yeah, things that never happen
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-london-53310089
No I'm not stereotyping all trees as being dangerous and waiting to collpase on people because of this one tree, but presumably they reason to believe these trees pose a risk.
That being said it does more likely that some of the trees are sound and some are not, but they have taken to decision to remove them all.
"Cyclists I have spoken to are quite happy about going up Mayals Road as it is,” There is no point in asking a cyclist. Ask people who have a bike in the shed but don't use it.
He also said residents would have to cross the cycle path to access Mayals Road from their drives
My heart bleeds for them.
maybe this logic could be applied to children needing to cross the road to get to schooletc and ban all cars from school roads. But I think the real reason for the objection lies here, and the trees are smokescreen.
Yes that one is weird. Everyone has to cross a footpath or verge to get from their property to the road, I do not see what is especially challenging about a cycle path. they would not drive into a T insersection with oncoming traffic, so why is doing the same with pedestrians or cyclists so troubling?
because most drivers will bully pedestrians instead of giving way when entering or exiting their drive and most pedestrians enable this. Harder to do this with a cyclist travelling at 15mph who is much less likely to yield their priority.
When the segregated cycle lanes were installed in Palmers Green (N. London) one of the common antis was that shoppers would have to cross the cycle lane to access the shops. Whilst that actually wasn't physically true in most cases it was also never mentioned that to cross the cycle lane a shopper would first have to cross two lanes of motor traffic and two lanes of parked vehicles.
only those lucky enough to get one of the parking spaces would ahve to cross the cycle lane from the parked cars? Otherwise i really can't see where they are going with this