The path goes through three of the CUBA councils, each of which reacts differently -showing how they view cycling
- Bristol: path would have been cleared by now, perhaps better drainage added. After all, something similar (but less drastic) happened last winter.
- S Gloucs: unmaintained overgrowth would have blocked all drainage; council would do nothing.
- Bath: thinks about what to do
At least the path is not in North Somerset -their attitude to cycling is public: they wish they'd go away.
In Bath, "a decision could be made to pump the water away."
This is more than just a decision on the technical feasibility issues, or on the cost involved. It is a decision whether the needs of people trying to cycle round the area are considered to matter by the council.
While a lot of people in the city no doubt view it as a leisure route for families in summer, it is a key commuter route for cyclists -the safe route between Bristol and Bath. It takes them straight into the city centre, or lets them curve north to the ring-road path, where they can get to the North Fringe.
Except nobody can when the Bath entrance is under half a metre of water and the council does nothing about it.
If they do agree to pump it, it says: we care about cycling as a form of transport. Which means they may go on to listen to the cyclists about other issues: safety on the bridges, the London Road debacle, where the locals-only consultation is proposing replacing the shared off road path/short stay parking with ASLs in the truck blind-spots that weekday congestion will render unreachable.
If they say "no, too expensive", or make up some technical excuse "land ownership; engineering, ...", they are sending a different message: cyclists -fuck off.
