LETTERSFrom Matt Edmunds, director, Stainless Games Ltd, Newport:
I RUN an office of 50 people in the centre of Newport, and we have a number of staff who cycle in from Cowes every day.
I understand the Newport-Cowes cycle track is shortly due to be closed for an extradordinary two months for maintenance.
This is an unacceptable period of time for what is an essential commuting route for increasing numbers of workers. This is not some little-used footpath. A main road, indeed any road, would not be closed for this length of time for maintenance except in the most extreme of circumstances.
Cycling on the busy, hilly Newport-Cowes main road is not a valid alternative for many people who see it as unnecessarily dangerous, especially in the winter rush-hour darkness.
The last time the cycle path was closed (for two days) one of my employees was knocked from his bicycle by a vehicle on the alternative road route.
My employees now face two months of added expense and delay of catching the Cowes-Newport bus at peak times. This adds up to some £170 and an extra ten-20 minutes each morning.
While the IW Council has stated only parts of the path will be closed at any one time, such is the geography of the route if you close one part you may as well close it all anyway.
In any case, by the council website’s own admission, there is no information on which parts will be closed when, and to rely on signs at each end of the route is impractical.
Therefore, I urge anyone who is affected by this ridiculously long closure to contact the IW Council as soon as possible, either online at www.iwight.com, or by writing to highways and transport at County Hall.