Rat-run bridge will remain open to motor traffic, insists council – despite Cycling UK proclaiming “victory” for cyclists and walkers following legal challenge

Secret_squirrel wrote:

Can Road.cc ask for an unambiguous answer from the Council over whether they intend to re-implement the block?

And their justification for keeping it open, if that's the case.

This isnt the case here though.  There is a vocal group of local cyclists and pedestrian groups that were the local reps that the CUK defense fund supported with the legal challenge.

Afaik you need a local group who has been impacted in order to bring these kind of actions, and I believe (from memory) they had already started crowdfunding the first action before CUK got involved.

Tories wither, Labour dither, Greens deliver.

Car Delenda Est wrote:

Tories wither, Labour dither, Greens deliver nothing.

Finished it off for you, missed a bit 

Not bad - actually a reasonable point, almost.  However as you know they've never been in outright control of anything...  They've had minority control in Brighton for a bit and are a minority partner in the Scottish parliament.  Don't seem to be doing anything in Wales.

They have actually made a significant difference in Scotland on transport (as part of the Bute House agreement with the SNP).   Although I'm keen to see Scotland doing much, much more now there's a half-sensible level of funding for active travel - much more than in the rest of the UK and certainly England.

Often misunderstood, Judicial Reviews (JR) are review of a decision by a public body where the courts consider statute and common law. As representatives of the public, councils are under certain obligations to act fairly.

However, all a JR can do is reset the position to before the decision was made and require the council to retake its decision.

In this case, the council will have to go through the process - it does not mean they cannot come to the same conclusion, they just need to be better at showing their working. So for example, they could say, we are giving significant weight to the guidance of the Network Management Act, but consider the needs of a few scrotes in motor cars who are too lazy to go round is more important so we are keeping it open. As long as they are a little more circumspect in their phrasing (because they cannot act unreasonably) they can keep it open. Private individuals cannot close the road through a court order, only the Highways Authority (in this case the council) can do that - acting on our behalf.

Historically, Councils used to simply be local representatives, but since the 80s, successive governments have centralised decision making in all but name by placing statutory duties and centrally determined guidance on councils. So whereas historically decisions were taken on the basis of local interest, councils now are balancing local interests and central guidance and this seems to baffle some council officers who forget their duty to the local population. Then because there is little scope to influence local policy, the quality of local councillors has generally declined - why would you bother when most decisions are taken by a small and select number of members on committees and the whole council may only meet once a year? Once local councils were breeding grounds for national politics, but as the recent government has shown, now we are getting MPs who have no experience of any governmental role and simply fail to understand how the UK system of government is intended to work.

That sounds right, but it is not explained in the article.

Another factor could be that Sunak's govt has recently withdrawn the updated Network Management Duty to support active travel, so even if the decision was unlawful when taken it may not be when re-taken.

HarrogateSpa wrote:

Another factor could be that Sunak's govt has recently withdrawn the updated Network Management Duty to support active travel,.....

Shit, I hadn't heard that.  This government lurches from one self-inflicted catastrophe to another, all the while telling us how green they are and supportive of the ordinary people.

Oh FFS...  You think people are over-egging their mocking parodies of the regressive measures being implemented - and then you find that was the news.

It's like this was the party that delighted in electing Boris Johnson and really, really wanted Liz Truss in charge...

This is correct. I have professional experience of a council losing a JR and having to go back and make the decision all over again (the same one as it happens!). 

Councillors not on a decision-making committee aren't  going to have any real say at a full council meeting either in a lot of cases as voting simply goes with party affiliations and one party often has a big enough majority.

Thanks Ian. Sounds like devolution toward a system destined to create civil disobedience. It would certainly encourage my rebellious Yankee soul to march down the middle of the road and confront any MV there any time I wanted to use the route. Or maybe even drive an old beater into the opening and have it miraculously stall there. 

As ever, the reality is more complicated and nuanced than articles with headlines designed to get clicks, nor their comments secionts indicate. 

It was a LibDem led council that closed it to cars, then the Tories who  allowed cars to use it again. The current administration is LibDem led, but they don't have a majority. It seems to me there is a majority who could/should support closing it off to cars again. Reading the twitter of one local LD councillor, they are keen for the route to be closed again to cars. But having just dealt with a court challenge because of not following due process it seems reasonable they will wish to ensure they follow due process if they are to close it off again.

And with Sunak's recent proclamation that he's against closing off roads, there may be additional legal hurdles to closing it to traffic again. Hopefully it will happen, but even if it is the case the council are keen and they make it a top priority, it's unrealistic to expect it to happen overnight.