Council should follow Intu’s lead on cyclists

I READ that Intu are going to fine people who cycle through the shopping centre (“People cycling through centre face jail,” October 6). Why don’t Derby City Council do the same with people who cycle down St Peter’s Street and across from St Peter’s Churchyard to East Street.

All this during restricted hours, often at speed with no regard for pedestrians. Why introduce a rule and not enforce it? If the bikes were impounded and not returned without a fine, we would soon see a difference.

The council have put up hanging baskets, which have hidden the signs about restrictions for cycling, on St Peter’s Street, which appears to show their lack of concern over this matter. I also fail to understand why there are times allowed for cycling. Why should pedestrians be subjected to unsafe conditions after 5pm? I park my car and walk to the shops. Surely, cyclists can get off their bikes and walk the short distance down St Peter’s Street.

Derby is the worst city centre we have visited for addicts and homeless people because, unlike other cities, the problems are concentrated in the city centre, thanks to hostel locations. The council have already rendered Green Lane a no-go area, resulting in the loss of good businesses.

The comment from one readers, “People need to help others and not judge them,” shows that they have never walked through the offending streets and experienced what other readers are concerned about.

My husband and I care very much for the plight of these people and want them to be helped in a constructive way, but we also have to follow our instincts to keep safe.

In the last few weeks during a weekday morning, we have seen a man urinating in a shop doorway; had to walk around pools of vomit by a bench off Victoria Street; held back as a man was yelling at a cowering dog which was later let off the lead and run amok across Macklin Street; witnessed people shouting aggressively to each other across Green Lane; been unable to drive out of the centre as several people were staggering in the middle of the road and we daren’t risk driving round them; witnessed a man yelling aggressively at a young woman trying to hurry ahead of him, which was frightening, and people being abusive to a busker.

This doesn’t include those asking for money and huddled in doorways drinking, which is sad to see as you are advised not to give them money.

Do the council really want to encourage people to come to Derby for the ice rink to experience this? Surely not! J Laban, Derby and Northern Ireland in the process) has benefited from the EU’s scientific research and co-operation with environmental projects, as well as its knowledge economy in various technological forms, it seems foolhardy to throw this amenity away purely for pseudo-patriotic reasons.

As I’ve written before, it will create physical difficulties with trading and touring access to mainland Europe.

I am a long admirer of Lancaster University’s sociology professor Sylvia Walby who also holds professorships in European universities and