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An interesting thread, and thank you for posting it.
If you go to the associated Oxfordshire County Council page of the Fix My Street website here
- https://fixmystreet.oxfordshire.gov.uk/report/1679108
, you will see that the resurfacing of this section of The Winnaway (the correct name of it being just Winaway – one “n”, no “the”) was carried out “in 2016 as part of the County Council’s Winnaway Cycle Improvement Project (Ref – S-000579)”.
That, for me, nails it as being (primarily?) a cycle path, being improved by the County Council for that very purpose. If pedestrians, horse riders etc. wish to use it then I, for one, see no problem, and even the local farmer should have a justifiable claim to its use. That said, Joe Public and his/her driving their Chelsea tractor along it should be questioned. It’s that classic tension though, isn’t it, between having the power to do something vs. exercising the right to do it. I’m sure that, at a pinch, you could squeeze a Monster Truck on it, but this would probably go against the spirit of OCC’s resurfacing of it five years ago.
Thanks for the post, Peter.
Looking at the one.network website, it seems somewhat bizarre that only half the road should be closed off and not the vast majority of it. There is, of course, an argument to be made for the houses near the bottom to have access, but the rest I presume is down to agricultural vehicle access to the field(s) on the south side. That said, in all my years living around here, I’ve never seen an agricultural vehicle using that road, never mind using it to gain access to farmland.
Good news, I trust: this (below) has just been forwarded to me from Facilities here at PHE and is from the Harwell Campus team …
“… Starting on Friday 13th December at 18:00hrs we will be carrying out emergency road repairs to Fermi Avenue, this is on the left hand side of the road from just past the junction to Ridgeway House to just before the entrance to PHE.
“We will keep one side of the road open and have a traffic light system during the duration of the road repairs and resurfacing.
“All works will be completed on Sunday 15th December.
“Best Regards – Dawn”
Hope this helps.
Cheers all – H.
I raised your concerns earlier Andy, and I’ve just had this message back from Facilities here at PHE …
“Campus have confirmed that the area has been coned off and they are going to resurface this section of the road.”
No mention of when, of course, but with luck this repair will be done by Christmas. Hope springs eternal ‘n’ that!
Not good, Fb.
The good news though is that his turning right down Library Avenue cuts down significantly the number of organisations he was heading to. If he’s a campus-based employee then it shouldn’t be too difficult to find him.
As someone who both drives and cycles to work, I think this kind of behaviour is unacceptable, as anger on the roads threatens ALL road users, two wheels or four.
Please keep us informed how you get on, and good luck.
To be honest, I find the bottom section of the Winnaway to be the most potentially dangerous anyway, as its surface is so cycle-unfriendly – holes, gravel, some quite sizeable lumps of rock – the usual suspects.
Therefore it’s near this bottom section that I take the most care (going up or coming down) as, other vehicles notwithstanding (fork-lifts now!), that’s probably the place where I’m going to have a wobble, if anywhere.
Thanks, NP, for the heads-up.
Hmmm … I’ve read this piece and the associated BMJ report and, whilst the benefits may be “staggering” and show a correlation, the statistics and report fight shy of attributing causality to cycling.
The cyclists that I know are already quite fit, watch what they eat, and don’t carry much, if any, excess weight. If survey samples were made up of similar people, then they are probably already leading a lifestyle that takes them out of high-risk groups for CVD, cancer etc. – regardless of their cycling to work.
A correlation cross-mapping exercise might resolve the causality issue, but that’s for another study maybe…
Andy – Local councils have a Duty of Care to you as a road user, since this dual-use path sounds like an adopted highway for cyclists like you and me, and that Duty of Care should extend here too. However, thus far I’ve only ever heard of councils being in breach in the event of damage to the rider and / or cycle due to defects in the fabric of the road (potholes, potbumps, the usual suspects).
Persoally, I agree with you in the sense that a little more consideration and planning (perhaps even a H&S Risk Assessment) should have been given prior to the shelter being put up. Under these circumstances, I would also be writing letters / e-mails to the powers that be, making a real “squeaky wheel” of myself until they at least acknowledged my complaint.
Best of luck – Hugh, Public Health England.