Cyclists call out latest bike lane vandalism as city named 'worst in Europe for green transport'

On Thursday 6th July Trafford Council replied to a road.cc request for comment, a spokesperson for the One Trafford Partnership saying: “We understand the importance of safe travel provision, which is why our traffic team regularly check the lanes to replace any missing cones. However continual theft and vandalism of cones means we’re unable to replace them as quickly as they are removed.

 "We are proposing to replace the cones on this section of the highway with an interim cycling scheme and have invested heavily in active travel schemes across the borough of Trafford.” Original story follows.

In the same week that a report into the state of shared and zero-emission mobility in European cities ranked Manchester as the 'worst in Europe for clean and green transport', Mancunian cyclists have found one of their cycle lanes under attack from vandals removing segregation cones to turn the bike lane into a third motor vehicle lane.

Photos shared on social media show the A56 in Trafford reopened to three lanes again, the lane that was a dedicated cycle lane, formerly separated from traffic with cones, once again filled with queueing vehicles, and the removed cones stacked at the side of the road.

Hi @OneTrafford. This is what happens when you don't keep on top of minor vandalism. Now large sections of the cycleway are missing and we have three lanes of queuing traffic instead of two @StretfordJane @LongfordSarah1 @mik pic.twitter.com/mVlnPAzIJU

— JBizzle (@jbizzleymcbizzl) July 3, 2023

"Is this how we do democracy in Trafford?" one local cyclist asked. "Why is this being allowed to happen? We have been complaining for weeks about cones being removed and now large sections are missing. Maybe I should go back to driving."

Another said they had now raised an official complaint against Trafford Council as the "complete silence" on the matter is "very frustrating".

Speaking to WalkRideAlty, a campaign group hoping "to make Altrincham, Timperley and Broadheath better places to walk and ride" road.cc was told the council is "painfully slow" at dealing with such instances.

"Bit by bit, the council has nibbled away at removing cones, and therefore removing a safe place to cycle, whenever car drivers moan about congestion," a spokesperson for the campaign explained. 

"The road was heavily congested before lockdown and before this scheme was put in place, but drivers may think that the cause is the cycle lane, rather than too many cars on the road. Today there is nothing south of the M60 junction, and sections near junctions have been removed, ie. Where people on bikes need the most protection.

"It seems as if the outsourced service provider Amey ('One Trafford') are struggling to keep up with vigilantes who are removing and stealing the temporary road cones from the A56 through Stretford. There are a series of tweeted photos of sections going missing overnight, and complaints that they're not being replaced.

"Is this a strategy by the council, or are they just a bit rubbish? Either way, it's not going to get people out of their cars and on to bikes, if their 'safe route' keeps being stolen."

road.cc contacted Trafford Council for comment but did not receive a reply.

In April, Trafford Council came under fire after resurfacing an entire road, except the strips of cycle lane, resulting in this bizarre scene below.

One swift backlash later and the Greater Manchester council backtracked on its statement that the works were "complete", confirming that it would resume work on the bike path later in the month.

'Worst city in Europe for clean and green transport'

The vandalism comes in a week where Manchester was ranked the 'worst city in Europe for clean and green transport' by a new Clean Cities Campaign report.

Ranking 42 European cities, the report found that Manchester was 42nd, achieving a total 8 per cent score and 'F ranking', compared with 1st placed Copenhagen's 87 per cent.

Of the other UK cities included, London was the highest-ranked in 24th, Glasgow 25th, Edinburgh 38th and Birmingham 39th, the Campaign's UK head suggesting that: "The poor performance of UK cities in our ranking is partly down to the government's much-delayed transport bill, which has stalled the rollout of e-scooters and is now clearly damaging the country’s longstanding reputation as a frontrunner in climate and new technology."