Residents have hit out after pavements on a busy high street were turned into cycle paths.
Signs appeared indicating that walkways on Manchester Road in Chorlton had to be shared with bike users.
But residents claim the move has made the pavements a hazard, saying there is not enough room for pedestrians and cyclists to share the pavements.
One mystery person has even taken the law into their own hands and sprayed over the markings with black paint, which has since been cleaned off by council staff.
The white markings have been created to link up a national cycling route.
Pascal Paschalis, owner of Iguana bar on Manchester Road, said: "It’s very, very narrow here. Common sense should be used.
"Parts of the pavement are too narrow to have lines painted on them and Chorlton is known for its tree-lined pavements, so there isn’t enough room for cyclists on them.
"If a pedestrian got hit by a cyclist it would hurt, and if it was an old person, it could kill them."
The Manchester Road section connects cycle routes from Sidbury Road to Oswald Road, to link up with National Cycling Route 55.
The route goes from Ironbridge in Shropshire up to Preston in Lancashire and travels through Macclesfield, Stockport and further north through Trafford and Salford.
The Chorlton section also forms part of the Manchester Cycleway, which offers mainly off-road routes for cyclists and covers the Fallowfield Loop.
But two Chorlton councillors think that having the route go on pavements is not a good idea.
Councillor Paul Ankers said: "It makes no sense for them to be there.
"There isn’t enough space, some sections of the paths are too narrow, and there certainly isn’t enough room if there was a cyclists and a disabled person in a wheelchair. I don’t think it’s appropriate."
Councillor Victor Chamberlain, added: "I have a real problem with cyclists on pavements in general.
"Cycling lanes are often never enforced and they’re not comprehensive enough in the first place. It’s a real issue for pedestrians."
A spokesperson for the council confirmed that the white markings had been vandalised by being sprayed over in black, and that their contractors had been cleaning it off while work is still progressing.
Pele Bhamber, the council’s head of highways services, said: "We have created a safe link, for a new part of the Manchester Cycleway, to get cyclists safely across Manchester Road following consultation with businesses and residents.
"The preferred option was to use the pavement and the businesses forecourt area as a shared space for pedestrians and cyclists, rather than the removal of the limited parking bays to the front of the shops."
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As a regular cyclist in Chorlton I have absolutely no desire to cycle on the pavements. This policy just reinforces the idea that cyclists are an inferior class of road user.
Like every other person I have spoken to on this subject I cannot believe that Manchester Council thought that pavement cycle paths could be a good idea. How dare they give licence to the minority of irresponsible cyclists who carelessly weave between pedestrians causing unease and in some cases accidents. I am hoping that it won't take an incident in which someone is seriously hurt before the council abandons this stupid idea. Instead they should focus on making our pavements safer to walk along and our roads safer to cycle along. The idea that the senior members of our community should feel vulnerable when they go about their business is dreadful. Had anyone thought about this or are we becoming that green that we can't see the wood for the trees.
I absolutely agree with Martin Rathfelder, above. I commute daily from chorlton along this stretch of manchester road, and strongly believe that better bike lanes on the road, and better education for both cyclists *and* drivers is the only viable solution
Dear Jan Whiting, would you prefer the senior members of our community feel vulnerable on the road instead then? Do you not expect that older people might want to cycle but just feel daunted by dangerous driving?
The initial wave of criticism is understandable, as it always occurs when people believe their freedom to be restricted. However, the arguments against this shared pavement do not hold, as they operate with worst case-scenarios. Mr Paschalis mentions the potentially mortal danger that an assumedly reckless cyclist poses to an old person, and Councillor Ankers points to the lack of room if a cyclist meets a wheelchair user.
The same arguments can be used against forcing cyclists back onto the road though: any car poses a danger to an elderly person on a bike, and on the narrow roads, no-one likes to be overtaken by a double-decker or a lorry.
I think that the best advice is that by Mr Paschalis: Common sense should be used. Most cyclists are mindful people who can cycle on a pavement without hurting anyone, A cyclist hitting a person will most probably fall off too. As regards vulnerability, cyclists and pedestrians are much closer to each other than cyclists and cars or even busses are.
The shared pavement provides the less experienced or vulnerable (and thus slow) cyclists with a chance to escape the fast traffic, while the experienced will prefer the faster road anyway, as comments here show. A tolerant society can live with a pavement where vulnerable cyclists can move about without being threatened by cars. I have been to areas where such a policy is common-place, and there are no accidents where cyclists crashed into pedestrians. Let’s not forget that the shared pavement does not force cyclists to leave the road and use it, it offers an opportunity. An opportunity that the vulnerable cyclists among us will gladly take