Kenilworth councillors calling for better cycling facilities in town

Today (August 6) marks National Cycle to Work Day and Kenilworth councillors are using the occasion to call for better facilities in the town to encourage cycling.

Lockdown has seen an increase across the country in the number of people cycling and local people are keen to see measures put in place to make sure this continues.

Cllr Andrew Milton who Chairs the Town Council’s Cycling Strategy Group said: "It’s been great to see so many more people cycling across Kenilworth whilst the roads have been quieter and we want to see this continue.

"It’s better for our environment as well as having benefits for our health and the economy."

The town council passed its own Cycling Strategy last December and has been continuing to work with residents to take the ideas forward.

The council is also keen to work with other local bodies like the County Council to make this happen.

"We’re pleased to see the commitment that Warwickshire County Council has made to funding K2L (The Kenilworth to Leamington Cycle route) but there’s still more that needs to be done within the town to make people feel safer and to build on the upsurge in cycling that we’ve seen". Said Andrew.

"At the invitation of the County Council we’ve written to them to ask for progress on six simple things that could make our town a much more pleasant and safer environment for cycling.

"We’re keen to see progress on the big projects but equally there are lots of things that could be done immediately at relatively low cost."

The six key initiatives include:

~ Creating an East-West link across the railway using the existing bridge at St Johns. This would also make it easier to travel from the new housing developments to the East of Kenilworth as these are built connecting them to the Town Centre.

~ Improve the signage of the crossing of Sustrans Route 52 at Park Road. Previously there were cycling road markings but these have become eroded over time and are now almost completely invisible.

~ Reconfigure the junction of Thornby Ave and Farmer Ward Road to reduce the speed of traffic as well as make travel to the crossing point safer. This could benefit cyclists, pedestrians and local residents.

~ The introduction of advisory signage on two routes to the town centre from further out of Kenilworth i.e. Coventry Road and the route in from the castle along Castle Road. This could be on-road signage to avoid the challenges of sign-clutter.

~ Improving the 20mph zone on Warwick Road and revisiting the proposed safety scheme that was brought forward in 2019. The experience of people of bicycles is that the current 20mph zone on its own is ineffective at improving the sense of safety.

They would also like WCC to come forward with proposals for extending the 20mph Warwick Road across the town in consultation with the town council and residents.

Mayor of Kenilworth, Cllr Richard Dickson said: "The creativity of our community in the town is one of our biggest assets and it’s great that people have come together to scope out what they want.

"I hope that we can take forward these ideas with the county council to make our town an even better place to live and a safer place to travel actively."