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- Kensington High Street judicial review March 15, 2023
- Highway Code Rule 66 October 7, 2022
- More poor quality consultations from Bolton Council May 21, 2022
- Darlington Roundabouts January 16, 2022
- Myth: “Essential motor vehicles” August 17, 2021
- How to lie with statistics. August 8, 2021
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Category Archives: Bolton
More poor quality consultations from Bolton Council
In Bolton Active Travel Forum, we’ve held several workshops on engagement, yet the Council still insists on running engagements that are flawed in many ways, and are likely to be either misunderstood or misused by decision-makers. This article looks at … Continue reading
Myth: “Essential motor vehicles”
We often hear people (especially local politicians) using this term as a way of resisting change; the implication being that other means of transport are not essential and must be treated with lower priority. It is often accompanied by some … Continue reading
Myth: “Unsightly, invisible wand orcas”
Orcas are small semi-permanent kerb sections made of recycled plastic. The name derives from the black and white markings that make them reminiscent of a killer whale (orca) breaking the surface of the sea. Due to a fear that drivers, … Continue reading
A staggering level of ignorance from a councillor.
Before I start, I will preface this with “not all councillors”. However, I have noticed over the years that many (though not all) councillors are often seen pontificating on subjects that they have never studied, and pretending that they are … Continue reading
A review of Active Travel within Bolton’s planning policies.
*** Note: comments, questions or corrections to this document will be most welcome. *** Introduction One of the things that has frustrated me over recent years has been the difficulty I’ve had in seeing how we, as constituents, can influence … Continue reading
Crompton Way – another poor Bolton design, and an absent one.
I had to visit the health centre in Harwood today, so I thought I’d come back a slightly longer route and take a video of Crompton way, part of which has recently been repainted. This is a pictorial commentary on … Continue reading
Weston Street, Bolton. A tough nut to crack?
A short while ago, I criticized the design of brand new cycle lanes on Manchester Road in Bolton. I still think it is pretty much all dreadful, but it might be reasonable for someone to ask me: “OK, what do … Continue reading
Bolton highway department again shows us how not to design cycle infrastructure.
Manchester Road in Bolton used to be a section of my journey to work and back on which I had many bad experiences with careless and dangerous drivers, especially bus drivers. Much of the bad driving was exacerbated by the … Continue reading
A second successful prosecution from Operation Considerate.
Back in January, I wrote an article about the first successful prosecution in court from an Operation Considerate online submission. Since that time, I have been very disappointed with the decisions of the Operation Considerate officers regarding cases that were … Continue reading
Quiet Beelines and River Valleys
The strategy adopted by Chris Boardman’s team for planning the Beelines walking and cycling network places a lot of emphasis on quiet routes, and this is reflected in the methodology used, which is very well explained in Nick Hubble’s article … Continue reading
Bolton to Radcliffe off road route
Almost 3 years ago, I posted an article about an off road cycle route from the centre of Bolton to the boundary with Bury at Bradley Fold using a newly created shared path. A couple of days ago I followed … Continue reading
On when Boardman’s team met Bolton Council
In December of last year, Chris Boardman, who last summer took on the role of Walking and Cycling Commissioner in the office of the Greater Manchester Mayor, published his report, Made to Move, in which he sets out ambitious plans for … Continue reading
Arriva North West, you’ve taught me so much over the years.
Indeed, you’ve been teaching me for years how to ride on Blackburn road when there are drivers such as yours who simply cannot be trusted with my safety. Here are some examples. Bridge Street, passing Topp Way In 2011 and … Continue reading
Bolton Transport Interchange – an exercise in missed opportunities.
Last week, Bolton Council opened the new transport interchange, consolidating bus and rail transport on the same site. Apparently the project cost £48 Million. Further money will be spent on a multi-storey car park to allow people to drive to … Continue reading
Safety and Numbers: the sad case of Bolton.
There has been a report circulating recently about the relationship between cycling safety and the number of people cycling, which uses available data to show the rather unsurprising negative correlation between the rates of injuries and deaths of people riding … Continue reading
Why do you … hog the lane at the bottom of Blackburn Rd in Bolton?
There is a place that I have to go through pretty much every time I approach home from the south, where I have a lot of trouble from drivers – especially bus drivers – who disagree with my choice of … Continue reading
Government by ignorant prejudice.
Today I actually feel ashamed of my home town. I discovered yesterday that my elected representatives, the members of Bolton Council, have voted almost unanimously to “urge the [national] Government to bring in legislation to make it compulsory for bike … Continue reading
New Bolton-Bury Shared Path
[UPDATE (August 2018): Since this article was written, a lot of work has been done on the Bury side of the boundary. This video shows the whole route from Manchester Road in Bolton to the tram station in Radcliffe.] Original … Continue reading
Cyclists Dismount: A disappointing attitude from @BoltonCouncil
The picture below shows the approach to some road works that are currently in progress on Moss Bank Way in Bolton: “Cyclists Dismount” signs are often used by ignorant local authorities who claim that they are there for safety reasons, … Continue reading
Letter to my Councillors
My Letter to Councillors Fairclough, Walsh and Wild (Note: the first two paragraphs are based on CTC paragraphs with modifications): Dear Councillor XXXXXX, I am writing as a resident in your ward who wants our Council to provide safe Space … Continue reading
Bolton’s idea of a strategic cycle route.
There will be a meeting of the Bolton Cycle Forum on Wednesday, so I have been having a look at the most recent documentation I can find on the cycling strategy of Bolton Council. This is the “Bolton Cycling Strategy … Continue reading
Why do you … ride in the middle from Higher Bridge Street to Bank Street, Bolton?
This post is about a short length of my commuting route that involves going through three traffic light controlled junctions in succession and includes a short section of road that, due to its width, appears to be appropriate for lane … Continue reading
Why do you … ride in the middle of the f*****g road through Farnworth?
I sometimes get problems with aggressive drivers when riding through Farnworth so, in response to an ignorant driver who tried to “educate” me about cycling road positions, despite his having no training or experience, here is an example giving chapter … Continue reading
Thoughts from Skyride Bolton
Yesterday was the day of the Bolton Skyride; an event that happens at different dates & times in various towns and cities across the country. On these days, the town is disrupted as roads are closed to allow families and … Continue reading
Highlighting the bad bits.
Update (6th March 2014): Modified the annotations in the map to include links to videos showing examples of the problems that I encounter at these locations. Yesterday, I saw the following Twitter post from the All Party Cycling Group: My … Continue reading
An unintended road improvement as work starts on a new cycleway.
I was pleased to see last week that work has now started on a new cycleway linking Bolton town centre to National Cycle Route 6, leading to Bury. I was already aware of the plans, since it was discussed in … Continue reading
Census 2011 cycling statistics for Bolton
Last week, census data from the 2011 census was released,including data on modes of travel to work for the various local authority areas in England and Wales. A number of people put extracted information relating to various towns from this … Continue reading
Why do you … block the whole road coming into Bolton?
This article is a video that I created back in September. Its purpose is to explain some of the reasons why a cyclist takes up a strong road position in the centre of the lane (sometimes called “primary position”, or … Continue reading
Cycle Lane Improvements Made
In some previous posts, I reported on my discussions with Bolton Highway Authority about poor quality cycle lanes on my route to work. I originally wrote to the highway authority in August 2011, and then posted a blog article in … Continue reading
Positive Response from Bolton Highway Authority
About 10 days ago, I wrote an open letter to Bolton’s Highway Authority, and emailed their general email address along with copies to a highway engineer that I had previously corresponded with on the matter, and to my local councillor. … Continue reading