Councillors who voted to let cars back into a cycles-only street in Exeter have been accused of ‘kicking the can down Dryden Road’.
Earlier this week the city’s highways and traffic orders committee voted to re-open Dryden Road to vehicles for the first time since 2020, when it was turned into a cycles-only ‘safe’ route in and out of the city centre.
Campaigners who wanted the road re-opened for all traffic said the COVID-era closure had simply moved the congestion and pollution elsewhere. Supporters, however, said the closure had created a safer and cleaner option.
Now Green councillor Jack Eade (Heavitree and Whipton Barton) said local people had been ‘left in limbo’.
“The can has been kicked down Dryden Road again,” he said.
During the meeting Cllr Eade put forward a proposal for a pedestrian crossing on nearby Bovemoors Lane to be installed immediately, and to look at ways to reduce congestion while ensuring safety for cyclists on Dryden Road.
His proposal was lost, however.
Cllr Eade went on: “Reform, Tory and Independent councillors blocked any potentially workable solutions and made no sensible suggestions themselves, apparently more concerned about ‘low cost’ than road safety.
“It was clear their obsession with opening Dryden Road to two-way traffic meant that the impacts on pedestrians and cyclists were nowhere in their sights.”
And, he said, the recent public consultation in which a clear majority of people had voted for an option to reintroduce traffic had raised a number of safety concerns.
“The consultation was not a referendum,” he added. “It sought out a range of views and resulted in legitimate safety concerns being raised by many people who use the route and surrounding area for active travel.
“Green councillors will continue to oppose moves that put those who walk, cycle or wheel in the area at greater risk.”
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