New signs proclaim "Considerate Cycling Welcome" on London's South Bank

New signs have appeared on London’s South Bank proclaiming “Pedestrian Priority – Considerate Cycling Welcome” replacing previous ones that stated “No Cycling – Pedestrian Area” (pictured) despite cycling never having actually been banned in the area concerned. To see the new signs check out the London SE1 blog, or head down to the South Bank.

As reported on road.cc last month, Lambeth Council decided to end a trial of the signs, which it said had been put up in response to a series of cases of antisocial cycling on the path running along the River Thames past landmarks such as The London Eye and the Royal Festival Hall.

The path has been a popular route for cyclists for many years, and despite the fact that there was no ban as such in force, the former signs conveyed the impression that there was, leading to a well publicised incident earlier this year in which a disabled woman was told to get off her tricycle by a PCSO.

In the wake of that, a Lambeth Council spokesman told road.cc: “We’ve been looking at the issue of cycling on the Southbank for some time and ideally we want to come up with a solution that allows cyclists and pedestrians to share the space together.

“The “No Cycling” signs were put up as a trial because of complaints about a small number of aggressive cyclists who were spoiling it for the majority of other cyclists and pedestrians. The signs were designed to allow the PCSOs that patrol the Southbank to ask cyclists to dismount so they could talk to them about considerate cycling.

“However, we’ve listened to feedback and decided that a better approach is to place signs that say ‘Pedestrian priority – considerate cycling welcomed’ or words to that effect, while at the same time running an awareness campaign to promote considerate cycling, similar to the very successful initiative we recently ran on Clapham Common. We hope to put up the new signs soon.”

Those are now in place, and we’re looking forward to having the opportunity of riding along the river – considerately, of course, and without the intervention of a PCSO confused by incorrect signage – on our next trip up to the capital.