We are sure everyone would like to congratulate the Surrey, Farnham and Waverley councils for opening the new ‘REEL’ cinema in Farnham this month. 

We would also like to thank them for finally publishing the long awaited map for the ‘revitalised’ town centre via a Herald article on Facebook. 

They have finally revealed that the only new cycle track will be on High Park Road, parallel to the existing Scholars Greenway in Farnham Park!

It’s shocking that there will still be no new safe crossing point on Castle Street to join the two halves of the Scholars Greenway cycle track (Long Garden Walk and Park Row). 

So I’m not sure what would encourage a parent to leave their car at home and cycle back and forwards to Potters Gate School, or any other town centre school, with their £14m budget for the Town Centre project.

There will also be precisely zero segregated cycle tracks that connect to the edges of the new Brightwells Yard development. So most people outside walking distance will simply drive. A few might take the bus, but when there is the usual road congestion bus users will be left stranded on cold and windy bus stops.

As a responsible citizens we would like to point out that to cycle on the pavement is illegal for anyone over the age of 10. So cycling from Lidl through Brightwells to South Street might shorten the journey to get to the station, and avoid both traffic lights and dangerous potholes on South Street, but it is illegal. 

This is because there are no legal cycle tracks across Brightwells at all, so cyclists should not use this shortcut. 

Whether they actually do cycle across Brightwells remains to be seen. Sadly there is already cycling on the pavement in other parts of the town where there are no cycle tracks. 

Adding a clearly marked cycle track in Brightwells could have avoided any conflict between pedestrians and cyclists and reduced the chances of accidents.

Despite spending about £100m on the Brightwells development we believe that there won’t even be space for cycling over the planned new footbridge across the River Wey into Borelli Walk, so cyclists shouldn’t use the route either.

I’m really not sure how our elected councillors plan to reduce air pollution and encourage cycling as promised in their FIP Farnham Vision Statement with their £14m town centre budget, but I’m sure they will reveal this to us all as well at some point in the Herald Facebook page. 

In the meantime, the cyclists will remain on the roads as shown in the illustrative photo taken from the councils’ new map (above).

In February it was announced that the London cycle network already carries 1.3 million journeys per day, which is one third as many as the Underground which had been around for 150 years.