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

Police were called to Newbold Comyn last week after a group of locals allegedly confronted contractors working on the former golf course’s new family-friendly mountain bike trails

A council has condemned the “unwarranted and wholly unacceptable” actions of a “vocal minority”, after a group of campaigners opposed to the creation of mountain bike facilities on the grounds of a former golf course allegedly confronted and intimidated contractors working on the trails.

Last Tuesday, police were called to Newbold Comyn country park, on the outskirts of Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, following an alleged altercation between locals and contractors, which Warwick District Council has described as an “unlawful” attempt by activists to accuse those working on the cycle trails of wrongdoing and to “impose their will against the wishes of the wider community”.

However, the protesters have claimed that the council’s version of events is “damaging and misleading”, and that the local authority is seeking to “silence and intimidate” them.

The construction of beginner-friendly cycle trails at the 300-acre Newbold Comyn – which the council hopes will provide an opportunity for families and children to learn to ride their bikes in a safe environment – forms part of the authority’s ‘masterplan’ for the site, the home of a former golf course which closed in 2017.

The trails – the construction of which was partly financed by grants from Sport England and British Cycling through the Places to Ride fund, and which will be completed next month – were originally intended to extend across the entirety of the former golf course’s grounds.

However, following a series of public consultations, the plans were changed to situate the trails in one half of the park, leaving the other half free for the site’s other users.

Nevertheless, since the ‘masterplan’ was first proposed in 2020, the family-friendly cycling facilities have come under fire from locals who claim that the “plans favour cyclists over all the other users of the old golf course”.

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”, and that other residents were “dismayed” at the proposed cycle trails.

Tensions seem to have come to a head last week, when a group of protesters allegedly intimidated contractors working on the completion of the trails.

Warwickshire Police says that officers were called to the site last Tuesday morning, but that no offences were recorded.

However, Andrew Day, the leader of Warwick District Council, accused the protesters of “unlawful actions” and “seeking to intimidate” workers.

“It is regrettable that the actions of a vocal minority, who are seeking to intimidate our contractors working to create the Newbold Comyn cycle trails, has caused personal concern and undue stress,” Day said in a statement.

“It saddens me that some feel it is appropriate to take matters into their own hands, and to resort to unlawful actions in an attempt to impose their will against the wishes of the wider community. This behaviour is unwarranted and wholly unacceptable. Our contractors and staff should be free to carry out their duties unfettered, without fear or intimidation.”

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”.

Pittel also said that the residents’ group was calling for an immediate half to work on the site, which she said was “more intrusive and damaging to the landscape than we could ever have imagined”.

However, in his statement, Day noted that the construction of the trails was agreed upon following “extensive public consultation” and a “comprehensive” planning approval process, which was conducted in the public domain. He also pointed out that the council is continuing to work closely with the local planning authority as the trails are constructed, “in accordance with ongoing expert archaeological and ecological advice”.

“To accuse our contractors of wrongdoing and to seek to personally intimidate them when going out about their business, is of serious concern,” he continued.

“I would like to thank officers from Warwickshire Police for their swift response in dealing with this matter and for confirming that immediate action will be taken should this unacceptable behaviour reoccur.

“I can assure residents that the attempt by a vocal minority to intimidate our contractors and council officers will not divert efforts to implement the agreed Newbold Comyn Masterplan in full, for the benefit of all.”

> Bath Bike Park plans dismissed as “puff and nonsense”

Newbold Comyn isn’t the only planned cycling facility set to be built on the grounds of a former golf course to attract the ire of furious residents in recent months.

Bath Bike Park, a proposed 30-acre facility situated on the grounds of the city’s former Entry Hill golf course, was set to feature five kilometres of purpose-built mountain bike trails, a pump track, skills and learn to ride areas, a bike shop and coaching services, as well as free-to-access walking, running, and family cycling paths.

The plans received widespread support from residents, though local golfers had previously led a campaign to save the two loss-making golf courses at Entry Hill after Bath and North East Somerset Council revealed that each round played cost taxpayers £8.

One golfer complained that the first public consultation on the future of the site was taken over by a ‘cycling lobby on steroids’ after 78 percent of respondents expressed support for turning it into a cycling centre.

However, despite this support, the park’s construction faced a number of challenges in recent years, sparking almost constant delays, until Bath and North East Somerset Council finally confirmed in December that the plans had been abandoned altogether due to rising costs after a funding bid failed, and that the site would remain as it is “for the short term”.

Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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50 comments

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peted76 | 1 year ago
2 likes

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

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IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
8 likes

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.

 

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peted76 replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
0 likes

This made me feel good this fine monday morning! Cheers Ian  1

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OldRidgeback replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
4 likes

This matches my experience on a number of points. I'm a moderator for an FB group for my local park. The local council proposed to turn the rubbish gravel surfaced all weather football pitch into a new one with fencing and lighting. A lot of people got really upset because a few scrubby bushes would be cut back and the lighting would be on at night. They complained about the noise (not thinking the park would actually be safer at night due to the presence of teams of fit young footballers). I pointed out this was needed as the grass pitches become unplayable in winter for the many teams using the park. I was accused of being a council stooge but my response at least got an apology from my accuser. I pointed out I'm involved with sports in the park and am concerned about the welfare of young people (rather than manky old bushes). 

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Shades | 1 year ago
7 likes

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.

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Cyclo1964 replied to Shades | 1 year ago
5 likes

it's funny anywhere they think about sticking a bike park the usual suspects come out of the woods ( no pun ) .

SImilar thing in the Lincolnshure Wolds near Market Rasen.

The protestors tried to hijack the actual website address by using a similar name to the one being created by adding a co.uk compared to .com

https://www.woldsbikepark.co.uk/

compared to

 https://woldscyclepark.com/

but hey Cadwell Park that's ok !

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tootsie323 replied to Shades | 1 year ago
8 likes
Shades wrote:

...  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...

I'm just chuckling at the irony of the loss of golf to a white middle-aged man's sport.

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chrisonabike replied to tootsie323 | 1 year ago
4 likes

However we do it we either need our middle-aged white men exercising more (to ease burden on NHS / encourage some relaxation and use up time otherwise spent venting) OR less (so they expire sooner and thus reduce the amount we're driving nationally / our general resource usage).

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Steve K replied to chrisonabike | 3 weeks ago
2 likes
chrisonabike wrote:

However we do it we either need our middle-aged white men exercising more (to ease burden on NHS / encourage some relaxation and use up time otherwise spent venting) OR less (so they expire sooner and thus reduce the amount we're driving nationally / our general resource usage).

A white almost middle aged friend of mine reckons he got less fit and put on weight when he played loads of golf (mainly because of the 19th hole) and got fitter again when he got his bike back out.

Edit - just realised this is an old thread with a very weird bump.

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peted76 | 1 year ago
12 likes

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!

 

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Zermattjohn replied to peted76 | 1 year ago
5 likes

Somebody suggests hammering frozen sausages into someones lawn.

As Will Smith once said, this sh!t is about to get real.

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NotNigel replied to peted76 | 1 year ago
4 likes

Thanks for posting this, makes for a good read and saves me trawling through the documentation on the website, I'm pretty sure there won't be any mention of frozen sausages in there!  All the best with the opening.

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eburtthebike replied to peted76 | 1 year ago
2 likes

An excellent summation of what can be expected of a tiny proportion of Brits when you threaten to take away their completely undeserved priviliges.  Thank you.

BTW "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 condone this behaviour,...."  I think you might have meant "condemn"?

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peted76 replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
3 likes
eburtthebike wrote:

BTW "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 condone this behaviour,...."  I think you might have meant "condemn"?

Ooo.. I was today years old before I realised just how close these two opposing words are! 

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ktache replied to peted76 | 1 year ago
4 likes

Was planning permission ever sought for use as a giant dog toilet.

And being a giant dog toilet there will be an innumerable number of dog waste bins?

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Cactusloop replied to peted76 | 3 weeks ago
0 likes

Well we'll well Peter Davies, what a complete crock of shit.

I read your post about this a long time ago but never bothered commenting on it because it was so pathetic. I just came across you comment here.

I'm sure no one else will read this so my reply is just for you.

As you know what you have written here is factualy incorrect and a total misrepresentation of events.

It's really pathetic that you, an adult, and a committe member of the Royal Leamington Spa Cycle Club would engage in such childish behavior. What are you trying to achieve with this? Some kudos from gullible cyclists here?

It's kinda laughable except for the fact that people like you ferment the cycling hate that the rest of us cyclists have to endure.

Still, at least you and I know exactly what you are about, don't we.

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NotNigel replied to Cactusloop | 3 weeks ago
1 like

I've just read it....care to tell us your version of events....after a years worth of stewing?

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Cactusloop replied to NotNigel | 3 weeks ago
0 likes

Haha, I'm not stewing at all.

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perce replied to Cactusloop | 3 weeks ago
3 likes

Is it about the frozen sausages?

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chrisonabike replied to perce | 3 weeks ago
1 like

I had one of those.  Last Tuesday, I think it was.  Not in the Prince Harry sense though.

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hawkinspeter replied to Cactusloop | 3 weeks ago
2 likes

Oops - I just read your post too!

I'm surprised that you haven't bothered to set the record straight with some corrections etc. but maybe you just like complaining?

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Cactusloop replied to hawkinspeter | 3 weeks ago
0 likes

I'm not complaining here. See my 2nd comment above 🙂

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Cactusloop replied to Cactusloop | 3 weeks ago
0 likes

Well this is a surprise, I never expected anyone to read my reply to a year old post 😂. My reply was intended just for peted76.

I didn't share my version of events because
1. Peted76 comment was such BS and so dishonest it wasn't worthy of a second more of my time.
2. The reality of the situation and events involved in that issue are so complex that to give an honest and complete rebutal to his BS would take up far to much space here
3. To be quite honest I just couldn't be arsed. like I implied in my reply to him, I just wanted him to know that I see what his character is made of, and it ain't very edifying.

So as it now it seems like I'm being challenged to tell my side of this sorry story I'll see if I can do that in some kind of abridged form. But you'll have to be patient as it really is a long story.

BTW, first a bit about me..
I'm a cyclist, ex mountain biker, member of Cycleways - a campaigning for cycle infrastructure community group, and a British Cyling member.

I lived in the US for twenty years and spent a number of those years dirtbagging around California and the desert southwest with my bike and climbing gear in the back of my truck. I returned to my home town Leamington Spa, where Newbold Comyn is situated 15 years ago.

Still want to hear the story from my side?

And yeah I'm a dog owner. Had dogs most of my life.

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hutchdaddy | 1 year ago
7 likes

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.

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chrisonabike replied to hutchdaddy | 1 year ago
1 like

I would agree with you that "it spoils a good walk" ... but those golfers have melee weapons and projectiles. Plus I stay in Scotland where there are a few with strong opinions on the subject!

I'd probably go for a public golf course over private new build housing though.

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OldRidgeback replied to hutchdaddy | 1 year ago
1 like

Golf is also environmentally unfriendly. Take a look at what Trump did to a nature reserve in Aberdeenshire.

I grew up opposite a golf course and have never understood the appeal.

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Zermattjohn | 1 year ago
9 likes

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.

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dreamlx10 | 1 year ago
11 likes

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

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OldRidgeback replied to dreamlx10 | 1 year ago
1 like

I've got a dog. My dog sometimes runs alongside me when I'm cycling. He loves it.

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chrisonabike | 1 year ago
2 likes

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.

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