Ex-mayor: I won’t be following you

A city councillor has turned down the challenge to cycle through Canterbury’s streets – because the roads are too dangerous.

Lib Dem Nick Eden-green, a former Lord Mayor of the city, says his two-wheeled days are behind him as he fears for his safety on the district’s roads.

He wrote to the Gazette after naked bike ride organiser Barry Freeman urged members to brave a cycle through the city following its rating as the most dangerous place for riders in Kent.

“I won’t be taking up the challenge,” Cllr Eden-green said.

“I used to cycle regularly around the city but no more. It’s simply too dangerous dodging potholes and sunken manhole covers, negotiating more and more traffic as short stretches of cycle lane peter out or risking my health to unsafe levels of air pollution.”

Last month it was revealed that the Canterbury district is the most dangerous area for cyclists in the county, with 57 serious accidents recorded in just one year.

Cllr Eden-green added: “Our local plan proposes 10,000 more houses on the southern side of Canterbury and claims that people will walk or cycle rather than go by car.

“That will mean at least a halfan-hour walk to the city centre or an unsafe cycle ride.

“It’s called ‘traffic planning’ or ‘modal shift’, but I call it cloud cuckoo land. I’ve battled for years to change the plan but to no avail.

“Well done and good luck Barry Freeman. The nudity doesn’t shock me. It’s the absence of safe clean cycle routes that does.”

Cllr Nick Eden Green