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Ex-cabinet minister Liam Fox protests against planned seafront bike lane funded by government money

Clevedon active travel scheme in his North Somerset Constituency was backed 50 per cent vs 42 per cent in consultation last year

Former cabinet minister Dr Liam Fox has led a protest against a planned seafront bike lane in his North Somerset constituency that is being funded by money provided under the government’s Active Travel Fund and which has already been backed in a public consultation.

On Saturday, the former international trade secretary joined a protest against North Somerset Council’s plans for improvements to The Beach in Clevedon aimed at promoting walking and cycling, including a bidirectional cycle lane, supporting local businesses and encouraging use of local buses.

The Conservative politician, who has represented the constituency since 1992, said on Twitter that there had been a “massive turnout” at the protest – although one person replying to his tweet put the numbers attending at no more than 140 people, equivalent to around 0.6 per cent of the town’s population.

Fox also tweeted a link to a petition calling for the proposed changes to be scrapped.

Among those responding to his tweet was 2016 Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist Callum Skinner, who suggested, tongue-in-cheek, that a dual carriageway and multi-storey car park be installed on the town’s seafront instead.

North Somerset Council says that the plans, which include widening the pavement along the seafront and building parklets outside cafés, would also see additional parking at the eastern entrance of Hill Road to replace those removed due to the installation of four new pedestrian crossings as well as loading bays to service local businesses.

The speed limit on the Seafront and surrounding roads – where in September 2020 a cyclist sustained critical injuries in a collision involving a car – is to be reduced to 20mph, and it will also be made one-way.

Speaking about the plans as a consultation into the plans was launched last year, North Somerset Council executive member for planning, highways and transport, councillor James Tonkin, said: “Covid-19 has changed the way we live our lives.

"Outdoor activities have increased significantly, including walking and cycling, and we need to react accordingly.

“The suggested changes will allow visitors, residents and businesses the opportunity to continue enjoying North Somerset towns, but in a safe and secure manner.”

The council amended its plans following concerns expressed by a number of respondents to the consultation, which found 50 per cent in favour of the proposals and 42 per cent opposed.

It is not the first time that Fox has opposed North Somerset Council’s plans, using money from the Conservative government, to encourage more people to walk or cycle in the area.

Last year, Fox opposed its proposals to close country lanes in a number of locations between Clevedon, Yatton, Nailsea and Backwell to help encourage greater active travel, and cycling and walking in particular.

The council said that closing the roads “is anticipated to form the foundation of a wider ‘Rural Lanes Active Travel Enhancement Scheme’, funding for which has been obtained through the DfT Active Travel Fund (Tranche 2).”

The council, which is controlled by an alliance of independent, Liberal Democrat, Labour and Green councillors, received £473,750 under Tranche 2 of the scheme, on top of the £106.140 it had received in Tranche 1.

It said that it expected the changes to:

• prevent the use of the road by vehicular traffic of a kind which is unsuitable having regard to the existing character of the road
• facilitate the passage on the roads of pedestrians, cyclists and equestrians
• reduce the potential risk of HGV’s causing damage to the road or buildings on the road
• avoid danger to persons or other traffic using the road
• Preserve and improve the amenities of the area through which the roads run.

Writing on his website, Fox said that the scheme was “the most crackpot idea yet to come out of North Somerset’s ‘rainbow coalition’ council and should be strenuously opposed.” 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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16 comments

Avatar
eburtthebike | 2 years ago
7 likes

Having walked and cycled along Clevedon seafront many times, I can confirm that serious changes are needed to make it safe for cyclists and pedestrians.  This article doesn't mention why Fox is opposed to this sensible, long overdue project which won't even cost his constituents anything, or maybe, as his history would suggest, he just hates cyclists and supports driving everywhere.

The same part of the country with the smoke-blowing driver; I wonder who he voted for.

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Bungle_52 replied to eburtthebike | 2 years ago
3 likes

Here is a link to Liam Fox giving his views on the proposed scheme.

https://www.liamfox.co.uk/news/protecting-clevedons-seafront

The sound quality is not good but I will leave it to you to decide whether he has given any valid reasons for his objections.

You can also find a written article on his website where he details his opposition to the plan to close certain local country lanes to traffic. There is also a link to the details of the plan.

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eburtthebike replied to Bungle_52 | 2 years ago
2 likes

Thanks for that, and as you say, the sound quality isn't good, but still better than his objections, none of which are valid; so he does just hate cyclists.

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JustTryingToGet... | 2 years ago
5 likes

Genuine question... is Liam Fox riding out some sort of midlife crisis or breakdown..his brand of batshit crazy really looks like he could be unwell

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brooksby replied to JustTryingToGetFromAtoB | 2 years ago
6 likes

I think it's just what happens when you've been the MP for twenty odd years in a constituency which would elect a flower pot if you stuck a blue rosette to it...

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OldRidgeback replied to JustTryingToGetFromAtoB | 2 years ago
0 likes

He's always been a bit unhinged.

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mdavidford | 2 years ago
13 likes
Quote:

Clevedon active travel scheme in his North Somerset Constituency was backed 50 per cent vs 42 per cent in consultation last year

Without wishing to cast any judgement on this scheme, that's really not how consultations are supposed to work, and I don't think it's particularly helpful to report them in that way. It just entrenches the worst kind of 'government by pressure group and petition'.

Consultation responses shouldn't be assessed on sheer weight of numbers, but on the validity and salience of the arguments and opinions put forward in them. They should be a way of shaping policy in a way that best suits the community and responds to their concerns - not a facile 'yay' or 'nay' exercise.

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Moist von Lipwig replied to mdavidford | 2 years ago
2 likes

Well said - there seems to be a belief these days (usually by those opoosed to the scheme in hand) that a consultation is just a numbers based referendum.

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chrisonabike replied to mdavidford | 2 years ago
6 likes

Amen. If you're having a consultation on "should we do this or not" you didn't do the prep work. That means that you have no idea what people want and / or you haven't persuaded them that a certain scheme will align with their wants / needs - to the benefit of the majority of them.

The consultation part should be around "how we best do this" not "yes / no" - and it must be genuine.

I do sometimes wish that authorities would have the courage of their convictions on issues where they've said "this is a good thing".  Saying and not doing makes them look as bad as doing regardless.  Engagement relies on people's trust in them - and the lack of that is where things often start.

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to mdavidford | 2 years ago
4 likes
mdavidford wrote:
Quote:

Clevedon active travel scheme in his North Somerset Constituency was backed 50 per cent vs 42 per cent in consultation last year

Without wishing to cast any judgement on this scheme, that's really not how consultations are supposed to work, and I don't think it's particularly helpful to report them in that way. It just entrenches the worst kind of 'government by pressure group and petition'.

Consultation responses shouldn't be assessed on sheer weight of numbers, but on the validity and salience of the arguments and opinions put forward in them. They should be a way of shaping policy in a way that best suits the community and responds to their concerns - not a facile 'yay' or 'nay' exercise.

Brexit.

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to eburtthebike | 2 years ago
3 likes
eburtthebike wrote:
mdavidford wrote:

[...]

Consultation responses shouldn't be assessed on sheer weight of numbers, but on the validity and salience of the arguments and opinions put forward in them. They should be a way of shaping policy in a way that best suits the community and responds to their concerns - not a facile 'yay' or 'nay' exercise.

Brexit.

That wasn't a consultation, that was just a way of forcing and losing a Conservative party vote of confidence in the leader.

Avatar
wycombewheeler replied to chrisonabike | 2 years ago
2 likes
chrisonatrike wrote:
eburtthebike wrote:
mdavidford wrote:

[...]

Consultation responses shouldn't be assessed on sheer weight of numbers, but on the validity and salience of the arguments and opinions put forward in them. They should be a way of shaping policy in a way that best suits the community and responds to their concerns - not a facile 'yay' or 'nay' exercise.

Brexit.

That wasn't a consultation, that was just a way of forcing and losing a Conservative party vote of confidence in the leader.

No I think it was an attempt to put the swivel eyed loons on the right back in their box, but it was lost leaving the swivel eyed loons to take over the country. Perhaps it could have been held earlier before leave gained support, perhaps it could have been put off for a few years, but it was essentially inevitable.

I don't think sweeping a major issue under the carpet is the right approach ina  deomcracy, there number of people voting for a party with no policy except get out out of europe, showed the issue was not going to go away.

In my view the debate needed to be had and it needed to be won. I blame those that didn't vote because they thought no was safe, and those that voted out to give Cameron a kicking, and of course the remain campaign which was poor. 

The parety voted to have a referumdum at the conference, it went in the manifesto and they won the election. That's democracy. I don't hold with parties putting something in their manifesto and not delivering because they don't want to. This is essentially the entire basis of party politics. The party agree their policies, they put them to the people and then if elected they action them.

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Car Delenda Est replied to mdavidford | 2 years ago
2 likes

This.
In a consultation on Brighton's Old Shoreham Road's temporary cycle path there was an 'any other comments' box.

After, when trying to quantify these comments, they would break them down into positive and/or negative with multiple points per comment. So for example someone saying "I love it but it would be safer if it were better segregated from traffic, and it should be better connected with the rest of the city" would be counted as one positive and two negative points. Also worth noting they only published the top ten most common comments.

It didn't take very long for amateur statisticians to start making wild claims like 91% of all consultation responses were negative, despite the rest of the consultation results making these claims obvious bs.

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chrisonabike | 2 years ago
3 likes

Presumably to sort this out we just need to give Adam Werrity a bicycle. I write this carefully though because lawsuits have been won over this!

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the little onion replied to chrisonabike | 2 years ago
6 likes

the disgraced former defence Secretary Liam Fox, you say?

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brooksby | 2 years ago
8 likes

Huh? Who would have guessed - I hadn't realised that Liam Fox ever got involved in matters actually in his constituency!

For reference - the 'before' pictures of Clevedon seafront would show

  • chevron-style parked cars all along where the cycle lane is shown, with occasional double-parked cars behind them,
  • a two-way road full of cars being slowly driven along looking for a parking space to become free, and
  • illegally parallel parked cars in the right hand side against the footway in front of the houses.

 

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