Between gutter Amos and a broken bridge, can county rise above it?
Cllr Amos has never offered much hope or positivity towards cyclists in the City, or indeed the County and further beyond. As people who travel by bike, we suffer derisive rhetoric, unsubstantiated claims and statistics, public goading and lack of action from Amos, who presided over a Worcestershire County Council Highways department that prioritised car journeys above all else. His position and those of his colleagues at the time mean that Worcestershire is currently barred from receiving Government funding for infrastructure improvements and we remain on the naughty step.The unfortunate collapse of the Powick Old Bridge is a good tale in this context. The County Council is progressing towards a more positive treatment of Active Travel, yet Cllr Amos still wishes to criticise and gripe from the sidelines...
Powick Old Bridge collapse, and Highways response
On January the 31st 2024, a member of Bike Worcester was riding to join a Bike Bus in Worcester. On crossing the Powick Old Bridge, they encountered something odd. There was a cable down, part way across the bridge, and some people in hi-viz had just arrived. He said ‘Hello!’ and rode on to join the Bike Bus. On his return home, around 9.30am, the bridge was closed because earlier that morning he had unknowingly ridden over a partially collapsed bridge.
What happened thereafter is a story of Highway departments new and old, as well as being testament to the green shoots of our efforts and engagement locally.
The collapse of the Old Powick Bridge was a blow to everyone who heard the news. Repairing a 15th Century Grade 1 listed Scheduled Monument was clearly going to take an age. A mammoth task made harder by the increased threat of severe flooding each winter due to the changing climate. Phrases such as ‘closed indefinitely’ were being used. It was a sad moment.
Aside from the awful damage to a unique part of our heritage, for our members who use it regularly to get to and from the new Hams Way Bridge and other local walking / cycling infrastructure this was a real blow, as it offers safe and scenic passage through this section. What was the alternative? What could be done? Would anyone actually do anything? How long would we be without this route?
Had this occurred a few years earlier, it would’ve been down to the usual lone individuals (Shout Out!) to impress on a reluctant Highways department the need for alternative provision. Things have moved on a bit since Cllr Amos was at the helm, and our members were able to contact officers directly to assist with plans. The response from Worcestershire County Highways department was excellent. The quick and easy wins were implemented swiftly; changing the footway adjacent to the road to shared use (pedestrian and cycle), hedge cutting and signage. Even more impressive was Highways’ willingness to implement more fundamental changes, such as resurfacing, a dropped kerb, a temporary 30mph speed limit and cones in the road to effectively widen the path and encourage more care from drivers. As an immediate response to an unanticipated disruption, this was much better than Bike Worcester had become used to. A notable improvement in response time, consultation, ambition, and outcome, exceeding our expectations based on precedent, and one assumes as a result in changes in leadership, notably the County Council Cabinet Member with responsibility for Highways.Subsequent to initial efforts, there were then further tweaks through an ongoing dialogue with users, resulting in more hedge cutting and signage, and the latest work on the section, which will see the installation of semi-permanent bollards (called ‘milestones’) along the diverted section, because the standard bollards were continually being thrown off the bridge, into the hedge and across the path (please post your thoughts on this particular activity in the comments - antisocial / dangerous / waste of tax payers' money etc.).
Drawing the ongoing ire of Cllr Amos
This latest measure has awoken the former head of Highways. He has been in the press again, making claims about ‘lazy and selfish cyclists’ and what he sees as the folly of spending money on this section, which the current Highways department say is ‘necessary to ensure continued safe access for all path users during the works’. Cllr Amos also states that he refused to move for cyclists on this section when he encountered them recently and that it’s for cyclists to yield to pedestrians. We certainly agree with Alan on the essence of his second point: Bike Worcester encourages careful use of this shared section, including giving priority to pedestrians, while the work is carried out on the Powick Old Bridge, all covered under the Share with Care mantra used extensively on shared use paths throughout the city, including some demanded by Cllr Amos (see £10,000 wasted on New Road). However, we remain sceptical of the veracity of Alan’s anecdote, and indeed, would question whether maybe the cyclists recognised Cllr Amos and reciprocated the respect that Cllr Amos shows to cyclists…we’ll never know.
Let’s talk a bit about Alan. As Cabinet Member for Highways for Worcestershire County Council, Alan’s Highways department was notoriously unforgiving of cyclists, with that leaked slide, two failed bids to secure available emergency active travel funding and possibly his most damaging legacy of all, which effects walking and cycling funding, Worcestershire’s zero rating by Active Travel England. This leaves County unable to apply for active travel infrastructure funding. Instead, it must seek funding to improve its active travel planning capability and prove it is serious about making these changes. Something Highways has been grappling with ever since. Worcestershire County Council has no dedicated budget to implement cycling infrastructure, a political decision overseen by Cllr Amos when in post, and not changed by subsequent cabinet members. This makes the planning and implementation of schemes more challenging,] and delays even the smallest of projects (such as removing a metal barrier). Imagine, if in a climate and health crisis your main legacy was to do all you could to prevent measures to move towards your own government’s stated aim of ‘50% of all journeys in towns and cities should be walked or cycled by 2030’. Unforgivable.
Sunlit uplands…?
Since Alan’s departure from the Cabinet position (he still sits as a City and County Councillor), there has been a marked improvement in dialogue and some improvement on the ground. The Active Travel Stakeholder Forum was established, and many areas are in the process of developing Local Walking and Cycling Infrastructure Plans (LCWIP), albeit many years behind other cities in the UK. There are even whispers that Worcestershire might soon be taken off the Active Travel England naughty step, unlocking further funding and hopefully a brighter future. It’s still a far cry from what we’d like to see. In fact, the LCWIPs feel like another round of planning (pipe dreams?) when much / most / all of the previous Local Transport Plan 4 (LTP4) has been ignored (albeit it was high level aspirational routes and offered little to assist with cycling in Worcester), but we will feed into the LCWIP process and hope the funding and implementation will follow. We’d also like to see action on the easy wins that our members campaign for to enable and encourage more cycling. There’s so much to do and some of it doesn’t cost much, it just requires a further shift in emphasis and action.
Let’s never forget, though, how bad things were under Amos. It’s strange given his emphasis on protecting pedestrians that he can’t appreciate that active travel includes cycling and walking, because these are linked. Where full segregation of different transport modes is ideal, segregation from big and fast metal boxes is the foremost concern. Read our blog summarising Road Traffic Collisions (RTCs) in Worcester. We’re in this together, no matter how often Alan seeks to make this a wedge issue between those who choose to walk or cycle or drive. Let’s face it, we all walk sometimes, even if it's from our front door to our car door, or from our car door to our destination.
We know Alan reasonably well, chatting at Council gatherings, during one to one meetings, on one occasion during a Hereford and Worcester radio show (where he incorrectly stated cycling over Sabrina Bridge is prohibited) and through other correspondence. He's an interesting character, quite personable and charming, always polite (face to face) and perfectly capable of amicable and sensible discourse, albeit poorly informed on issues regarding active travel and transport in general, which is amazing given his previous County Cabinet brief. It is therefore incredibly disappointing to hear his comments during council meetings and when asked to comment on issues by the Worcester News, and his subsequent comments on articles. He has repeatedly misused Council statistics in the chamber, prompting questions during council meetings challenging his narrative. He appears to have little genuine interest in reducing road danger or increasing rates of active travel, even ignoring correspondence from Bike Worcester offering to set-up Bike Buses to schools in his ward. Instead he prefers the play book of stoking division and hatred (not just regarding people riding bikes) in the form of irrational arguments / rants. Whether this is from personal bitterness and spite, or under the belief this is what gets him elected, who knows. What's amazing is he isn't directly challenged by the Council members or officers during meetings, and is still given air time by the local press (why not talk to Councillors who are making positive changes to the city?).Following the tenure of Cllr Amos, and the brief tenure of Cllr Rouse, Worcestershire Highways now has a new boss. Cllr Marc Bayliss has much work to do to enable and encourage more active travel to meet City, County and Central Government targets, and Bike Worcester is keen to ensure Cllr Bayliss can continue the dialogue with user groups, starting with the Active Travel Stakeholder Forum meeting next week. In fact, we have a member who is happy to loan Cllr Bayliss an e-bike and ride with him into the Hive, a short journey from his home on the edge of the city, but absolutely the best (and only) way to gain some perspective of travelling by bike in and around the city. This invitation is open to all City and County members and officers. You know where to reach us.
