Sustran Gates in Birmingham?

[StuartG]

Yesterday i had the misfortune to try and cycle from the City Centre to Smethwick.

The towpath/NCN5 cycleroute along the canal looked ideal. From previous experience (on the canal to Edgbaston) I expected a rough puddle strewn passage which, despite it being a sunny day, meant on arrival I had to clean myself up before my meeting from splattered mud.

What I didn't expect was the gates designed to stop cyclists using the path. I suspect they were put in by Sustrans for the opposite reason. I would be delighted to be corrected. But who is responsible for these aberrations?

I was on a little Brommie (having come up by tube/train from London) with a bag on the front. It was impossible to wheel it around the obstruction. Lifting an old Brommie with its droppy back wheel in a confined space (and when I'm no spring chicken) was very difficult.

It would be impossible with a tandem or trike.

I'm going back next week and have already selected an alternate route avoiding these gates - back on the road. Is this what Sustran (or whoever) want? Certainly there were very few cyclists using the towpath and all were of the urban guerilla variety.

And if the answer is to keep motorbikes out - why is this an issue for the particular canal - or is somebody being paranoid? We had fancy gates on a cyclepath here in SE London which were also an abortion. They were removed which makes it much more attractive and I have, as yet, to be bothered by motorbikes so its a real gain.

 

[snorri]

Why not write to Sustrans or a local cycle forum? The last time I came across an obstruction in the middle of a NCN path it had been installed by the roads authority for a rather spurious reason, but having these things removed is not easy.

 

[StuartG]

I have come across difficult gates on other NCN routes (which is why I suspect it is Sustrans) but was looking for confirmation here. And if so, for someone to justify the (national?) policy or otherwise. Here seems the obvious place unless you have a particular forum in mind ... which?

No point in writing to Sustrans if they are not involved. Every point of discussing it at a national level if they are. But which?

 

[snorri]

IME in Scotland it is not Sustrans that are the bad guys on cycle path engineering, it's the LA and trunk road authority who tend to want these restrictive measures on the NCN and other paths.
Perhaps the Birmingham cycle campaign group could help. http://www.pushbikes.org.uk/

 

[carolonabike]

Same up here, it's the local authority who are responsible for erecting the barries, it's taken our local Sustrans group a lot of time and efffort to get them removed.

 

[dellzeqq]

I think I can help here. The towpath is owned by these guys. http://britishwaterways.co.uk/listening-to-you

They are open to the idea of removing barriers. You could drop them a note.

 

[StuartG]

I think I can help here. The towpath is owned by these guys. http://britishwaterways.co.uk/listening-to-you
They are open to the idea of removing barriers. You could drop them a note.

Thanks Del, as you may have gathered the 5 miles out of Birmingham proved more challenging than the 50 to Southend. Except for the lack of villains. Well hopefully BWA won't qualify there ...

 

[jdtate101]

I know the black and white metal gate you are talking about. I think there is two of them between the centre and Smethwick. Sometimes they are open and other times shut, doesn't seem to be any logic to it. It's a pain to lug a MTB or my cross bike over it.

 

[ufkacbln]

My "favourite" so far is the gates at Margam in South Wales:

Note the NCN sticker on the gate:

Then note the impressive space given to get a bike through;

Even a panier is a squeeze:

I was forced on a long detour as this was simply impassable, and the two guys behind me with mountain bikes had to turn the handlebars and push them through upended on the rear wheels and had problems!

 

[jdtate101]

Last summer I recorded a vid along that canal, and some of the gates are on it. No comments please about my riding....I was just starting out back then and my roadcraft was cr@p.

 

[Tim Hall]

Not an ideal fix, but would a BW key (available for a few quid from BW and normally used to access their water points and loos) open the gates?

Last week I was cycling near Kennilworth where we came across a recumbent-trike-unfriendly kissing gate giving access to a cycleway. However, in a fit of good design, it could be opened wide using a RADAR key. And as I was riding with Kim this formed part of her standard kit.

 

[byegad]

I left Sustrans, where I'd been a Ranger working on my own on a mostly off road stretch of NCN1 in Co' Durham for a few years.

One of the reasons why I left was because, under a reorganisation, a group of Rangers who already worked the stretch North of me, took over 'my' stretch. Their first move was to 'solve the motorcycle problem' * by erecting barriers. These also would limit me on my trikes** from accessing the route.

* I'd seen one kid on a mini motorbike using the track in several years of a weekly patrol of the track.
** Which I ride because I have a slight balance issue.

The stretch North of me was inaccessible to me on a trike because of the barriers, anything from metal crush gates to huge rocks and slalom gates presumably installed by or for the Ranger group. So now a couple of years down the line this group have effectively barred me from much of the section I used to love. All to stop motorcyclists who, in the Northern section had broken down gates and fences and so still managed to use their section. I assume the same 'unofficial motorcycle access points' have appeared in my old section.

I'd suggest the only way to stop this stupidity is to challenge it on access rights. The best way to ensure you win this is to find a wheel chair user willing to make the complaint.

 

[dellzeqq]

I've taxed two regional Sustrans reps with this, and neither has got it. Not even with a BWB bod in the room saying 'yes, we're going to get rid of them'. They simply, simply did not understand that there was a problem. And, if you want my guess as to why, I think it is because the organisation has an unreasoning respect for hardware - gates, bridges, anything solid and preferably metal that says 'we woz 'ere'.