Angus Council should ditch their ludicrous notion to impose a three-metre wide, mile-long segregated cycleway/wheelway in Arbroath, from Gayfield Park to the Guthrie Port roundabout.
Under the plan, the dual carriageway would be reduced to one lane in each direction.
It might be quite pretty. And, to be fair, might encourage half a dozen people to get on their bikes every day – but I’d be surprised if it was more than that.
Who cycles that short distance?
Where would these cyclists be going?
Where are they coming from?
What do they do when they come to the end, turn round and do it again?
It’s money that is the most important thing though.
The cost when this was first publicised was £13 million, with Angus having to find £4m, but building material costs have rocketed since then.
This is not a priority for £4m+ of Angus people’s council tax.
Any councillor backing this has questions to answer: Is this more important than coastal erosion in Montrose? Or flood defences around Carnoustie’s Barry Burn?
Would anyone at Angus Council visit Carnoustie’s west end on the day houses are knee-deep in sewage-polluted water because the burn burst its banks?
Would you tell residents: “Never mind that your home is ruined, you can ride your bike in Arbroath.”
This cycle path idea is an example of a head-in-the-clouds notion, dreamt up by one-dimensional hobbyists who are under the impression everyone thinks like they do and is desperate (and physically able) to abandon their car and become a cyclist.
The arty explanatory video shows a French Riviera-like Arbroath that is permanently sunny and without a breath of wind.
The people depicted are in their 20s, not a pensioner in sight. Where is the reality?
Spending at local level shouldn’t be about virtue-signalling vanity projects. Council money belongs to constituents so should not be spent on councillors’ pet schemes.
A councillor’s job is to deliver services that the majority of people need every day, and getting value for money is an imperative.
If someone wants to spend £9m on an Arbroath cycle path, that’s great. But why can’t it be constructed using only that £9m, with fewer bells and whistles perhaps, at no cost to Angus?
If any councillor can explain why £4m of the Angus budget should be added, then speak up.
There should be more common sense applied to the way public money is spent across all of Scotland.
Sustrans, which is funding the £9m, is a charity. But it was given £30m of Scottish Government money. So this isn’t a freebie, we pay for it in the end.
There’s something wrong when millions are spent on things like parallel cycle paths along Broughty Ferry Esplanade, but there’s no money for genuinely important things.
Angus councillors, put aside party differences and your personal hobbyhorses.
Have an honest discussion about where £4m is really needed.
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