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The Editor
Yorkshire Post
Wellington Street
Leeds
LS1 1RF
27th December 2008
Dear Sir,
The Stray Defence Association believes the result of the cycling on the Stray consultation has most certainly NOT given our council a mandate from Harrogate’s people to change the law to allow this.
Of 158, 000 people in the Harrogate District only 673 people voted in favour of cycling on Harrogate’s precious Stray. That is 0.42% of the population.
Scarcely the ‘huge majority’ claimed by some!
Also, the consultation was both brief and poorly publicised. Harrogate’s main library was closed for most of the consultation period and not everyone has the Internet or actively scanned HBC’s website for news of a consultation they were unaware of. Result? The majority of people knew nothing about it.
Consequently there is considerable anger at the much vaunted ‘result’.
Aside of this we believe that changing current byelaws protecting the Stray sets a dangerous precedent and that much of the ‘payback’ land for that tarmacced would not be effective ‘Stray. This does not bode well for the future of The Stray.
We have grave concerns about safety because of the statistics of incidents involving cyclists, currently unlicensed and largely uninsured. Any motorised collision with either pedestrian or animal and appropriate compensation ensues. Worryingly this would probably not be the case with an accident involving a cyclist. Harrogate council say it is impossible to police the current laws. How then would they police new ones?
Recent official figures from Health Minister Ben Bradshaw state that;
‘In 2006-7, the latest figures available, 1,873 cyclists were injured after colliding with cars or vans and 129 were in accidents involving lorries and buses. Some 9,191 were injured in incidents involving no other vehicles and 518 hit stationary objects.’
Almost 10,000 cyclists had accidents of that nature?
Are we not right to be worried that Harrogate’s council could subject other users of The Stray’s peaceful paths to this sort of mayhem?
We believe the people of Harrogate deserve the right to a fully informed consultation about the real ‘cost’ of allowing cycling on The Stray
Yours sincerely,
Mrs J M d’Arcy Thompson
PRO
The Stray Defence Association
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