Cycling in K.Lynn: St Margaret's Two-way Cycling

This is in support of KLWNBUG work on the Townscape Heritage Initiative for the old town area of King's Lynn. There was a Norfolk County Council Consultation on Highway Changes which we responded to, asking for two-way cycling throughout the old town except for a couple of narrow streets.

We didn't get it. We even lost the one street that was originally proposed for two-way cycling, contrary to national guidance (pdf - see pages 33-37), county policies and borough policies.

The narrowest vital street is Priory Lane. It seems to be 3.7m wide, with no parking, one-way and restricted access. Here's a picture, including a 1.8m bicycle aligned with the kerb:

Most streets are plenty wide enough. Here's St Margaret's Place where the road seems almost three cars wide:

Verbally, I've been told two-way cycling is refused here because it's too narrow... but in a neighbouring part of town, here's a street with a picture of my bike with its front tyre against the wall:

That seems narrower, maybe 3.2m wide in places, but parking's allowed and there's two-way unrestricted motor traffic. And this isn't an isolated case: this nearby street is even narrower and it's a useful route avoiding a one-way restriction:

And no, a car can't pass those parked cars without driving on the footway!

You might say fine, but there's not many people cycling on those streets and that's why there's no reported collisions. So let's consider Beech Road which is a fairly busy connection from the Hardwick Road cycleway towards the Walks and Vancouver centre and again, it seems less than 4m wide, with parking allowed and two-way unrestricted motor traffic, although it's a no- through-road.

Note the vehicle tracks worn into the verge about half-way up the street, creating an informal passing place.

So if we can have two-way motor traffic on much narrower and much busier streets, please let's have two-way cycling in the more restricted streets of the old town!

If anyone wants to discuss this please contact me. Thanks.

18 Mar 2014, MJR