No cycling, or love cycling? Signs to keep cyclists off pavements vandalised with hearts; Cyclists protest bike lane dismantling by right-wing council; Jeremy Vine vs lorry bin drivers pt.2; Lance Armstrong’s reality TV antics + more on the live blog

Brighton and Hove's Labour Council doesn't have the best reputation amongst cyclists — having been called "actively against active travel" and accused by a former Green councillor today that they will do "nothing" to deliver on the previous council's active travel promises.

However, it has admitted to road.cc that it "hearts" cycling too, when we contacted them about the vandalism story from this morning, with the "no" covered and turned into a "heart" to spell out "love cycling" on the Brighton seafront. 

Council leader Bella Sankey told road.cc: “Brighton & Hove City Council ‘hearts’ cycling too. But we believe it’s important to have separated routes for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists to ensure everyone’s safety.

"Cycling is not permitted on any pavements unless it is specifically signposted that cyclists can share it with pedestrians – and this stretch of pavement is no exception.

"There is however a very wide cycle lane in Madeira Drive as an alternative to this stretch of pavement.

"It was created by the council specifically to encourage active travel, and we’d encourage our cyclists to use this route in the interests of everyone’s safety."

We didn't receive any updates about the cycle lane on Marine Parade though, for which the previous Green council had secured £1.2 million from the Active Travel fund. Well at least, they at least didn't write "pedestrians, cyclists, and road users" this time. Small wins, I know, maybe too small.

> Language matters: Labour to redesign Brighton and Hove seafront scheme to ensure a “win-win-win for pedestrians, cyclists, and road users”

The comments come after a campaign group for disabled people who cycle has criticised a councillor's "just get off an walk" advice to cyclists who do not want to become the latest people to be fined under Grimsby town centre's Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) prohibiting cycling in pedestrian areas.

Critics have previously accused the council of targeting "old and slow" cyclists, while a disabled cyclists' campaign group has asked the council to not prevent elderly and disabled people access to local amenities...

> Council insists disabled cyclists won't be fined under controversial town centre cycling ban

Me when I remember it's a four-day work week:

🔞😜 Solo para mayores de edad (y ganadores de etapa en #LaVuelta23)

🔞😜 Drink responsibly - only for adults (and Vuelta stage winners!)

🍾 @seppkuss #CriaCuervos 👀 @OutOfCycling pic.twitter.com/tJRFId0g6Q

— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) August 31, 2023

"Ah yes, why do you think the councils build cycling lanes? So most people can cycle on them? Doh! No, it's so some people can park their vehicles on them!"

A couple of weeks ago, Jeremy Vine was in the spotlight (I mean, when is he not, it's almost a weekly ritual to mention him here) for filming a lorry bin driver heading into the opposite direction on a cycle lane. 

Now, under another tweet posted by a cyclist from Sutton in London, he has urged Veolia, the French company which provides services to public authorities, such as refuse collection, to stop its drivers from using the cycle lanes.

In the original tweet, the bin collectors can be seen sitting inside the parked truck, likely on their break as suggested by the original poster. It's nice when Sutton Council actually installs some cycling infrastructure, but it's a shame that their waste contractor VeoliaUK then parks their refuse trucks in it so their drivers can take a break," read the tweet.

Please @VeoliaUK stop this. Someone will be badly hurt.

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) August 31, 2023

Veolia loves bike lanes! had similar issues in Croydon

— SanjayLalwani 🌍🚴 (@i_SanjayLalwani) August 30, 2023

A senior Conservative member has defended his council's strategy on road safety after an increase in the number of cyclist deaths in Norfolk county, including three cyclists within the space of just one week.

Two cyclists were killed while cycling on a rural A-road in Norfolk on Sunday evening. A man in his 40s was arrested on suspicion of causing death by careless driving and has since been released on bail until November.

Both cyclists, men in their 30s, died at the scene as a result of their injuries, leaving police to appeal for information from anyone who "may have witnessed the collision or either vehicle prior to the collision and are particularly keen to speak to any motorists who may have relevant dashcam footage".

> Locals demand safety action after two cyclists killed in collision on "treacherous" road

Earlier this week, an "inspiring" swimming coach in her 60s also lost her life after a collision with a car driver.

Councillor Graham Plant said: "We are constantly working to improve highway safety."

Mr Plant, the Norfolk County Council cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport, said the local authority was in the final stages of implementing a £66m Transforming Cities project and was recently awarded £3m in active travel funding - both schemes funded by the government.

"We're sorry to hear about the death of anyone on our roads," he added.

Liam Calvert, Norwich Green Party councillor and a cyclist himself, however said that segregated cycle ways and blanket 20mph speed limits in the city were needed to improve safety.

"It's not taken seriously enough," said Mr Calvert, speaking to the BBC.

"Highways could be spending an awful lot more money making cycling safe, because this has enormous benefits for the city as a whole; every person who is on their bike is one fewer person in their cars."

In yet another sign of the challenging times for the bike industry, the Bicycle Association's latest report on the state of the UK cycle industry suggests that bike sales have slumped once again, months on from the national trade association reporting they had fallen to a 20-year low in 2022.

> UK bike sales fall even further after dropping to lowest level in 20 years

In June, we reported that a right-wing coalition had come under fire for its plans to immediately scrap cycle lanes and low emission zones in some Spanish cities, a move that critics said was inspired only by "political revenge and technical ignorance" and which will knock Spain "back to the 20th century".

However, despite all the backlash and pleas of common sense raised by the police and former ministers as well as climate and transport experts, the recently elected local government in the Alicante region of south-east Spain, a coalition between the conservative People’s party (PP) and the far-right Vox, has followed through on its election manifesto by adopting a populist, pro-car policy.

> “We are going to harm the economy, the environment, and road safety so that some gentlemen can double park for 10 minutes a day”: Cyclists slam plans to “dismantle” and “eliminate” cycling infrastructure in Spanish cities as “political revenge”

And the actual ramifications to reverse Spain's green agenda by the party have already begun. Last week, it got rid of the cycle lane in the Avenida Juan Carlos I by spending €38,000 (£32,500) of public money and it has now started work on removing a second cycle lane in Calle José María Buck.

Cyclists protest bike lane removal in Elche, Spain (credit: Costa Blanca)

However, cyclists from the Valencian region were not backing down without first putting up a fight. A group of cyclists blocked part of the José María Buck route during a protest against the removal works on Monday.

Claudio Guilabert, the mobility councillor from the new right-wing coalition, told a news conference that the work on the Avenida Juan Carlos I was being carried out because parents at the Jesuit school Santa María-Jesuitinas complained they were obliged to double-park outside the school as, like many in Spanish cities, the cycle lane was separated from the road by a line of parked cars.

The council claimed the José María Buck bike lane is unsafe for cyclists and pedestrians and has led to 10 minor accidents over 18 months.

> Cyclists blast Italian government’s “extremely worrying” plans to introduce bike registration plates and insurance

However, the police said that car parking next to the cycle lane "represented a potential danger to cyclists due to doors being opened by parked cars", according to Costa Blanca.

The former mobility councillor Esther Díez, described the plan to create a system in which cyclists would share road space with cars and motorcycles as "barbaric", claiming the new government was driven by "fanaticism".

Protestors led by Esther Díez, said the work "had not been signposted" and that "no alternative" route had been offered as required under Elche laws. But despite the attempts, the council failed to budge, as the work to dismantle the cycle lane continued on another section of the road.

The cyclists then left peacefully with Díez stating that there is "no objective criterium as to why cycle lanes are being dismantled in Elche".

> Research paper concludes that networking Seville’s cycle lanes helped improved cycle safety

Eliminating cycle routes has been discovered by political parties as a popular and vote-drawing policy, starting with the Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida in 2019.

In Valladolid, at the new mayor’s first meeting in charge, he gave the instruction to repeal a LTN law, which he claimed made the city “stuck and chaotic”. 

In Gijón, a coastal city in north-western Spain, new mayor Carmen Moriyón announced that one of her first acts will be for cars to once again travel through the city “without any type of environmental label”, while restructuring the city’s road policies by dismantling the cycle network.

“From now on, vehicles will have absolute freedom of movement and parking on the streets and roads of Gijón,” Mariyón said.

Meanwhile in Elche, the far-right council has flagged up Calle Mariano Soler Olmos as the next cycle-lane reversal target. But since it was paid for by a European Union grant, the cycle way’s removal would necessitate sending a refund to Brussels.

The former councillor Díez described these "backward" steps by the new local conservative regimes as “frustrating as it is worrying”, coming as they do at a crucial time for active travel and the fight against climate change.

“We are going back to the 20th century when we should be accelerating the transformations,” she says.

Frustrating and worrying times, for sure.

Now that's a strong team from Ineos who will be racing in their home race starting from Manchester this Sunday.

We’re coming home! 🏠

Introducing your INEOS Grenadiers for the @TourofBritain 🇬🇧🙌 pic.twitter.com/JGfKjyxUm9

— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) August 31, 2023

Pidcock, Rowe, Rogriguez, Sheffield, Turner and Swift! Your live blog host can't wait to see them going up and down Caerphilly hill for the finale!