Anti-cycle trail protesters accused of intimidating contractors – but campaigners claim they are being “silenced” by council

It's heartening to hear so many similar stories of CAVE people (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) u pand down the land.

Complaining about the mess reminds me of one of our cyclocross events where the park was torn up and the locals got their complaining hats because it was not going to be fit for the Park Run. The next week, the Park Run people were baffled by the disappearance of the damange - nature had taken its course and the grass had regrown. No more complaints.

When I got on the wrong side of a community protest group, as I was in the local resisdents' association and I didn't shout and scream at the (now quite popular) redevelopment which had acquired planning and had turned the site derelict, while I calmly interpreted the real complaints (like "You've taken 3 mature trees down, why aren't you putting 3 back?" "Will it shut you up?" "Yes" "Done!" - "people can see into bedrooms from the car park, that's not right", "Screening amended" etc). For all that, I got accused of corruption, being on the take and one guy threatened me with destroying my reputation, and demanded I admit to things I hadn't done or else he would publish his claims anyway (bizarre). I went to the police after a couple of months of this, including insisting he no longer contact me, and he got a stern talking to, but some months later, he started up again, bemoaning that I was a nasty person because I had gone to the police over his harrassment. That was 10 years ago, and I reckon things would be far nastier now - everything is a conspiracy.

Then there were the "friends of" the local parks, who objected to things like playground activities because it would attract children to the park and they wanted nice flower beds instead, and of course, no "dangerous" bicycles are allowed in our local parks - though people smile and enjoy the small children riding their bikes with entirely no sense of direction or control.

So, the trails will bed in, the heaps of soil will grass over, and after some deliberate nuisance making by the dog walkers, it will eventually all calm down as the walkers realise it is much nicer walking a dog away from the trails than getting into confrontation.

We were supposed to get a (small) MTB trail centre in Bath built on an unprofitable council run 9 hole golf course (in years past it was Georgian refuse land-fill); sounded great and there's a successful MTB park at Leigh Woods in Bristol.  Usual NIMBY backlash (parking, loss of golf (queue the compo faces on news articles), parking, impact on environment, waste of money, white middle-aged man sport etc; all b#ollocks quite frankly) but the council pressed on.  It's been shelved; not sure if the partnering company have sufficient funds, which is understandable given the economic conditions.  Queue the triumphant NIMBYs who are now using it as ammunition to attack the council; all held up as upstanding citizens by the local Tories.  I think it would have worked.

I think a few of you have correctly guessed the reasons why this protesting gang formed (dog walkers) in the first place... it went something like this.. it might not be exactly right in terms of order of events and timelines.. but it's certainly close enough to get the story... 

1) Five years ago, after the second and last commercial golf club, failed to make the council maintained 18 hole course work for them and closed, the council tried to put in place a dog control order within an area of Newbold Comyn, a local FB group entitled 'Let Dogs Run Free' kicked off started a petition and the council kicked the decision down the road.

2) About four years ago the council went to consultation/survey about plans for the whole comyn but in particular the large 18 hole golf course which is now unused and costing them money still mowing and maintaining it for no apparent reason. Ideas included commercialising parts of it, building an astro turf football pitch, building a new changing rooms to including a information centre and cafe, extending parking areas, extended cycle trails, nature reserve areas and more walking routes.

4) Covid hit, any commercial interest by the likes of Go-Ape and another outdoor commerical type company I can't remember was pulled. Lockdown means 'everyone' buys a dog, walks said dog and throws said dog's poo into the nearest tree. Newbold gets overflowing dog poo bins.... and regular bins for that matter.

5) Council conducted more local surveys - all consultations and surveys have included cycle trails and more cycling areas as a key 'want'.

6) British Cycling showed council what a town based cycle hub could look like and offered half a million quid contribution - council think this ticks a few boxes and is a great idea. 

7) Council go to local bike clubs and ask what we'd want to see, we say 'Cannock, a kids skills area and a kilometer long crit track' council says fat chance.

8) Trail experts design some decent trails totalling about 12km which eventually gets boiled back to about 3km of trails, a rebuild of the 4X track and a kids skills track, in size terms the actual trails will take up about 3% of the whole comyn and will be placed over about half of the old golf course area - local cycle clubs are very happy.

9) Council puts plans in for planning.

10) Cue whataboutery! Local Dog Walking group goes apoplectic. Gain a load of local support by effectivley telling everyone that the trails will be fenced off to the public, take up the whole 18hole area of the comyn, will be floodlit, will destroy trees, kill wildlife, increase traffic, warnings of hoards of cylists flooding in from around the country and of course... 'the danger'.

11) Local cyclists try and quell fears and provide some truth, dog walkers deny it's about dog walking and start leaflet drops and stapling leaflets to trees in and around the common calling for people to object to the plans.. NIMBY's rally to their cause!  Some very dodgy goings on by one of the ringleaders who gets the police called on him at least once.. intimitdation of women, filming kids on bikes etc.. things get pretty mean and horrid.

12) 2000+ planning comments later, ten people (with dogs and a banner) turn up for a ‘protest’ outside the planning permission meeting. Planning permission was granted based on environmental and archaeology surveys to be carried out. There are tears outside the town hall.

13) Archeology find a part for concern but allow work to continue .. good news, there are no bat or newt concerns,

14) Nine months after the planning was granted, work starts, dog walkers have been pretty quiet since the planning, the workers disturb a badger set (old?).. council, police and nature people are called in..work continues. Diggers make a right old mess of various grassy areas aroudn the trails. Dog walkers put the old gang back together and restart ‘moaning with gusto' as if the planning was not granted or the work on the trails done at that point was irrelevant (which is half complete at this point). A part of the Northampton trails created by same company  who are building Newbold trails are water logged and in need of repair, doggo protesters shout a bit louder.

15) Dog walkers start a new FB group called ‘Friends of Newbold Comyn’ and invite everyone to join this delightful group of friends as long as you are agast at the ‘destruction of the space’ or are against ‘astroturf’. Somebody somewhere along the line gets some extremist protesters involved and there’s a couple of nasty threatening comments against cyclists put on FB. Leader of the doggo’s denys all knowledge and ejects said protester from the group for being too extreme even for them. Cyclist makes an awful comment about one of the doggo people, things get pretty mean and horrid. Somebody suggests hammering frozen sausages into someones lawn.

16) Doggo’s are calling councillors corrupt and pestering workers at the site.. police are called, turn up and no crime is reported/logged. Council send out statement to condemn this behaviour, Dog Walkers deny any incident took place and say that the corrupt councillor made it all up. Dog walkers tell all of their mates it’s all made up and a few of them believe it, go online and start mud slinging again. Things get pretty mean and horrid.

17) Local yoof on electric MX bikes are using the closed off and unfinished, unbedded in trails causing local cyclists concern. What to do about this?

18) Despite all the huffing, puffing and bluster, work continues (it never stopped)..  and we’re heading for a early April opening.. Expecting a big bike bbq to take place at some point soon, time to dust off the gazebos!

Right let's get one of my few prejudices out in the open. I hate golf it's got to be one of the least useful, unnatural and most boring ways to use land.
This is just a dreadful bunch of NIMBY's who think they represent all.

I grew up where the M25 now runs, and used to love walking the dog in the wide-open fields there. I don't recall an '..."extensive public consultation” and a “comprehensive” planning approval process, which was conducted in the public domain'. They just came along and tarmac-ed over miles of green space.

Same goes for almost every other road that now exists - they just developed, or got built. Must have been motorists on steroids, I guess.

"Anti-cycle trail protestors", in other words dog walkers

I think we should make cycling (and indeed road) infra of the kind that they do in the Netherlands - however I'm not so keen to import what seems to be their happy approach to endless building: "hmm... there's some green space there... we could dig that up" *.  So I'm a little mixed about this.  But again it's a case of "fighting over scraps" because the amount of space we've given up for cars (and our hurry to build and sell houses) means that there's a premium on ANY less-developed motor-vehicle-free public space.

I'm also always mixed when I hear "provide safe space for learning to ride".  I mean - that's great, but what happens when the kids (or even adults) can ride?  Where is the safe, pleasant, social space where they can do that after?

However overall this one seems like "they're taking a chunk out of my nice park for some activity which I'm not interested in!  Grrr!"

* Unfortunately - because we can't possibly much reduce the vast amounts of space already in use for motoring purposes (e.g. see article here, and images here...) - maybe we may "have to" chew up and tarmac over some green space initially to make active travel space.  That then gives us a shot at reducing our car addiction for so many journeys and so reduce pressure for so much tarmac!  It is actually possible to start redressing the balance once people aren't driving everywhere.  That's because cycling is a much more space-efficient mode.  Walking is slightly better space-wise - but it's not terribly efficient in energy terms.

So converting half of a 300 acre redundant golf course into a family-friendly cycling facility, something the community appears to want, is the latest scheme to attract the ire of petrolheads, who see any space whatsoever given over to cyclists as damaging to their interests.  One might be driven to ask when the peak of anti-cycling absurdity will be reached.  These people would object to a cycle track on the moon.

These people aren't "protestors" as the period for protest was when the plans were published, consulted on and revised.  What other purpose could confronting the contracters have but to intimidate them?  There was certainly nothing the contracters could have done to change things.

Katie Pittel, from The Friends of Newbold Comyn group, fails to mention what legitimate purpose their visit to the site was for if it wasn't to intimidate the contracters; it could not have had any constructive, useful purpose.

Quote:

In response, Katie Pittel, from The Friends of Newbold Comyn group, told the BBC that the “inflammatory language” used by the councillor was “a deliberate ploy to silence and intimidate people who have spoken out”.

...but doesn't in that case explain why their friendly and not-at-all-intimidating approach to the contractors led to the police being called.

It looks pretty sick to me.  A major improvement to when I went there about 4 or 5 years ago, I was massively underwhelmed by the whole place. 

"The Friends of Newbold Comyn, a local campaign group opposed to the plans, said in 2021 that the park was “a shared space and we feel no need for that to change”

Uh-huh.  "Shared space" as in, "it's where I walk my dog so no bikes please".   It's the same round here where a number of previously not well known MTB trails have become more visible through the lockdowns (loads of walkers/dog walkers now using them & ebikers sessioning them through the winter) & despite them being totally unsanctioned trails - ie not public footpaths or bridleways either, the local NIMBYs & stick men have a fit if you ride there (at all, at any speed) now.  They'd rather have the space to themselves to leave dog shoot filled bags hanging from trees don't you know.

You'd have thought that an old golf course was big enough to accomodate both a family (won't somebody please think of the children!) MTB area AND leave loads of space for people doing other things......   Sounds like a minority group didn't get their way and have taken the stick man approach to exciting new levels.

They should be grateful.  Here in Maidenhead the golf course is being turned into... a housing estate