Harlow Council leader calls for improvement to town’s cycle tracks

News / Sun 10th May 2020 at 09:07am

WITH the government announcing a £2 billion package to boost cycling and walking, we asked the leader of Harlow Council, cllr Mark Ingall for his thoughts on the proposal.

We asked as Cllr Ingall has led a vocal and visual campaign for the improvement of cycle tracks, the responsibility of Essex County Council.

Cllr Ingall said “Harlow has a magnificent network of cycle tracks. Indeed the town was designed around these cycle tracks and I have long recognised their value in creating a cleaner, greener and more environmentally sustainable Harlow and I have campaigned to have them properly maintained.

“Unfortunately I am also aware that many of our cycle tracks are in a very poor state. I regularly walk into town along them, occasionally I even ride my bike, and I see the potholes, the flooding and the broken lighting. Recently I counted more than 50 potholes in a 400 m of cycle track that links Bush Fair to the Town Centre.”

“Residents often ask me why Harlow Council haven’t repaired them if we value them so highly. It’s a good question and the answer is that the maintenance of our cycle paths is the responsibility of Conservative controlled Essex County Council and they should be maintained from the 85p in every £1 of Council Tax that we collect that we have to give to Essex County Council.

They are aware that this is a concern to us, I have raised the matter frequently and made Harlow’s Essex County Councillors aware of the problem, as this social media message shows. Unfortunately Essex do not seem to see how important the cycle tracks are to this town.

“However, as we look forward to winning the Covid battle it’s a time to look to the future and consider how we want to rebuild a better Harlow with an even firmer focus on health and well-being. We need to see how this money is distributed but it could well mean that there is now no reason for Essex County Council to continue with their failure to maintain the wonderful resource that our cycle tracks represent and I, and I am sure all of Harlow, looks forward to their repair, regeneration and extension.

2 Comments for Harlow Council leader calls for improvement to town’s cycle tracks:

durcant

2020-05-10 10:31:25

We should all welcome this new determination to demand ECC to use funds to upgrade our cycle ways. As part of the community positive recovery post COVID we should be encouraging and empowering all our residence when possible to get on their bikes. Part of this is safe travel and the next is save storage of bikes not only in the town centre but also at the local shops and leisure locations. You would hope we should be a bike friendly town. This would make Harlow a Great location not only for us but would make us a tourist area of interest. I hope others regardless of political or other reasons can get behind this call to ECC to get our bike paths fit for purpose so we can keep our community fit for life.

AWR

2020-05-10 10:46:53

I agree that the cycle tracks are in a very poor state and need repairing urgently. The cycle track from Joyner’s Field towards Staple Tye is particularly bad and the pathway is also in a bad state of repair. When the cycle track and pathway gets cleaned large chunks of the surface get ripped up making it worse. My wife uses a wheelchair and when we go to Staple Tye we’re having to keep going from one side of the cycle track to the other to avoid the damaged areas (it’s even more difficult when brambles are over hanging the cycle track) and it’s almost impossible to use the pathway as that’s in such a bad state.