What do you think of the existing Oxford cycle network? Could it do with a revamp? Lick of paint to the old road markings? Perhaps you didn’t even know it existed (well, you would be forgiven). Right up until November 27 the city council has opened consultation, stating boldly it is committed to improving cycle routes and welcomes our suggestions. The caveat here being it only wants to hear about simple changes that can be achieved quickly and at modest cost. I reckon they may well have not bothered. What this translates as to me is: “You tell us what we should already be doing for the upkeep of the cycle network and we will make it look like we listened to all your good ideas and implemented them.”

It is easy enough to see that improvement would be as simple as giving cyclists right of way more often, making some short cuts or shortening waiting times at junctions and making the surface of cycle paths smoother – a no-brainer really. I have always thought the cycle network patchy, badly signed and badly maintained, so much so I tend to use the rivers, canals and parks where possible. But that’s not really the main reason I take the long way home. I chance the badly lit and badly kept river paths because down by the river there are no motors to content with. Yes, segregation, that dirty word for an English city planner, is what’s needed but that costs money so what the council prefers to do is maintain the useless, sometimes dangerous, system we already have.

So yet another time and money-wasting exercise is proposed, with a consultation that cannot suggest anything new, radical or actually useful. Then it wastes yet more money and time publishing and implementing plans that will do next to nothing for the city’s cyclists, all because once again the politicians make the usual excuses that stand in the way of actual development. It’s not actually that expensive to achieve a transition to a system like, say, the Netherlands, where the bicycle is top dog for transport. It simply takes a consistent policy over the years. But that’s the problem – once cycling provision is built, even if it is sub-standard, it can take decades in the UK to get it changed. If this consultation had asked for opinions on what city infrastructure was wanted I would have plenty to say. It’s not like it’s a drastic new idea – our European neighbours have been implementing liveable cities faster than you can say segregated cycle path. The council should scrap this consultation altogether and send out a cyclist with a pen and paper to note the problems down.

Anyone who actually cycles the routes will tell you where the troubles lie – but then they would also come back so exasperated they would tell the council to tear it all up and start again.

Unfortunately for us, they don’t want to hear that.