No Data to Support Town Centre Cycling Ban
Just a quick thing...
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Last year, Inspector Kris Short for Nuneaton Police made a request of the Borough Council to look at a cycling ban in the town centre to “stop those who wheelie through the town centre, causing anti-social behaviour”. It was reported that he wanted to see full pedestrianisation to put an end to “nuisance cycling”.
Following that report, I put in a Freedom of Information Request to Warwickshire Police asking for the numbers of incidents involving cycling in the pedestrianised area. It’s worth noting that this area has a time-limited exceptions to the prohibition of motor vehicle, allowing for taxis, deliveries, and disabled access. Still, there are reports from time to time of driving-related issues in the town centre (1, 2).
The response took a very long time to come through, but finally arrived last week following intervention from the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).
Important caveats: It was noted that it would not be practical within reasonable limitations provided for by the Freedom of Information Act to ask all applicable officers to review their pocketbooks for the time period requested, and therefore the data can only refer to centrally recorded incidents and reports. That recorded data was then searched by way of the terms, “cyclist”, “cycle”, “bicycle” or “bike”, and any incidents that do not use those terms will therefore not be counted.
Bearing those caveats in mind, for the period of January 2022 to September 2023 (inclusive), there are a total of ZERO incidents. Warwickshire Police have no recorded complaints about cyclists in the town centre, nor did they issue any fixed penalty notices (FPNs) or bring any prosecutions. There are no recorded cases of any injuries, serious injuries, or deaths occurring where they are attributable to a cyclist.
The full text of the request and response is included below.
That does leave the question then, as to why Inspector Shore has been pushing for the ban on cycling in the town centre. Is it based on hearsay from local businesses rather than any actual firm evidence of a significant problem? Cycling does occur in the town centre, and surely there will be the odd occasion of someone behaving in an antisocial manner. Does this justify the demonisation of everyone who carefully rides in the town, and the need to take draconian action?
The rules on cycling do not have to be black and white, allow or ban. Certainly, if there is a particular problem with some antisocial behaviour (despite it not being recorded on databases), this should be addressed. But it must not come at the detriment of those who ride carefully and considerately, and certainly not independent of driving issues that may be occurring.
Please could you provide the following information in relation to cycling in or through the pedestrianised area of Nuneaton Town Centre (“The Area”), between January 2022 and September 2023 (inclusive), broken down by calendar month.
Q1a. The number of complaints logged by Warwickshire Police in relation to actual or perceived cycling offences in The Area.
Please be advised that the pedestrianised area of Nuneaton Town Centre that you have called “The Area”, falls within a specific beat code. Therefore, a search was conducted for any incident logs, recorded between 1st January 2023 and 30th September 2023, located within that code, containing the keywords ‘Cyclist’, ‘Cycle’, ‘Bicycle’ or ‘Bike’, in the text of the log. However, it is important to note that, should there be relevant incident logs, but where these specific keywords have not been mentioned within the text field, then these will not have been captured from this search. The resulting information was manually reviewed for relevance, and I can advise that none related to complaints relating to cycling offences. Therefore, the answer to this question for this period, is no information held. Please note however, that data for 2022 had not been retrieved before it was realised that not all of the requested information could be retrieved in full within the fees limit.Â
Q1b. Of these, the number relating to the same but which occurred during times when motor vehicle access was permitted.
Not applicable.
Q2a. The number of people stopped by police/PCSOs in The Area for cycling-related behaviours (for example, but not limited to, excessive speed, inconsiderate riding, dangerous riding etc.)
Please be advised that some of the requested information is not centrally recorded and is therefore not held in a readily retrievable format.
Regarding Q2a and Q2b, and the number of people stopped in the area for cycling related behaviours, officers have many interactions; some which may fall under the remit of your request, and which may, or may not, have been recorded. In the event that such interactions have taken place, and no further action has been taken, then this would likely be recorded only within an officer’s pocket notebook. However, in order to determine whether this is the case, it would be necessary to make enquiries with each and every officer in force and ask them to read through their notes for the specified period. This would of course involve an inordinate amount of effort which would take us over the fees limit (£450) as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.Â
In accordance with Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter is a Refusal Notice for this part of the request, and, if one part of a request exceeds the fees limit, then Section 12 of the Act applies to the whole request.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act, I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to refining your request; however, due to the extensive searches required, I am unable to suggest a way to revise this part of the request in to one that can be managed within the fees limit.
Outside of the Act, and as a gesture of goodwill, please see below the answers to the remaining questions. This information was obtained before it was realised that not all of the requested information could be retrieved in full within the fees limit, and this should not be taken as a precedent that additional information would be supplied outside of the time/fees legislation for any subsequent requests.
Q2b. Of these, the number relating to the same but which occurred during times when motor vehicle access was permitted.
See above
Q3a. The number of FPNs issued or prosecutions sought for cycling-related behaviours in The Area.
A search was conducted for any FPNs, issued for cycling related offences within the specified period, anywhere inside the Nuneaton Ring Road, which contains the pedestrianised area of Nuneaton Town Centre that you have called “The Area”. I can advise that this returned a nil result, and therefore the answer to this question is no information is held.
Q3b. Of these, the number relating to the same but which occurred during times when motor vehicle access was permitted.
Not applicable.
Q4a. A breakdown of the number of incidents of people killed, seriously injured, or injured in The Area where the cause is attributable to the actions of a person riding a cycle.
A search was conducted for any collisions, recorded in the specified period, occurring within the same area as at Q4. The results were manually reviewed, and I can confirm that none were attributable to a cyclist. Therefore, the answer to this question is no information held.
Q4b. Of these, the number relating to the same but which occurred during times when motor vehicle access was permitted.
Not applicable.
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