Our statement on the proposed ban on city centre cycling

Filed under: General

Last week, the Cabinet Member for Social Justice made a decision to consult on a proposed ban of cycling in pedestrian zones in Birmingham City Centre.

This would be through a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) which can ban anti-social behaviour and is different from a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) which regulates who can use a highway and how they can use it.

We regret that the PSPO has been proposed by City Operations at the Council, given that it directly contravenes several of the Council’s own transport policies and will disproportionally impact people who use their cycles as mobility aids.

The PSPO seeks to address unacceptable cycling behaviours that are already illegal in several ways while suggesting banning all cycling in pedestrian areas and making parts of the city centre impermeable for cycling.

Food couriers cause issues on high streets across the city, however we must also acknowledge that they are exploited by delivery platforms such as Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats, who appear to have little interest in fixing the problems of illegal parking and dangerous cycling that they create.

We would rather see existing legal orders (TROs) in the city centre revised to enable safe and considerate cycling – that the Council’s own report appears to be happy with – while assisting those on illegal modified e-bikes to transition to legal bikes.

We call on City Operations to drop this clumsy and unworkable proposal immediately.

Better Streets for Birmingham

Better Streets for Birmingham is a community group which campaigns for changes to our travel and planning infrastructure to improve the sustainability, efficiency and safety of our streets. We believe that through connecting Birmingham to reduce car dependency, we will make it a more pleasant place to work, live and play.