Cycle shop owners have said 'on yer bikes' to two councillors who claim people do not want to ride bicycles.

They were reacting to comments by senior Tory councillors Anne Hawksworth, who represents Ilkley on Bradford council, and Eric Dawson, who represents Silsden and Steeton. The councillors said people in Keighley and the Aire Valley do not want to ride bicycles.

The two councillors spoke out before Bradford council's transportation, planning and design committee met on Tuesday to agree to the development of a network of cycle routes around Steeton, Eastburn, and Silsden, as we reported last week. The meeting was adjourned before a decision was made.

The two councillors had organised their own survey. They say they counted only three bikers at Steeton top on the road from Keighley to Skipton - which has a cycle route - in one hour.

Cllr Hawksworth said: "In an ideal climate, flat terrain, and a leisurely life, cycling is desirable. However, most of us live in the real world of hills, tight timescales and needing to arrive somewhere looking respectable. For leisure, on the odd occasion for a few - great. As a way of life - almost impossible."

Eddie Argyll, who runs Aire Valley Cycles in East Parade, Keighley, has been involved in the discussions with council officers on developing cycle routes in and around Keighley. "The route from Keighley to Skipton is one of the most desireable around because of the flat terrain," he says. "It is used by hundreds of cyclists. If more routes were made available then more people would take to their bikes."

Robin Nolan, of Robin Nolan Cycles in Worth Way, calls the councillors' comments 'stupid'. "The only reason people do not ride on that road is because it is so dangerous," he says. He calls for more cycle routes to be linked to the transport network.

Tony Booth, owner of Terrain Cycles in Cross Hills, also disagrees with the councillors. He would welcome the development of cycle routes in the area. "We need to open up as many cycle ways as possible across the country and integrate them," he says.

Mr Booth also says he has a farcical situation whereby he has four employees who travel to work by train from Saltaire in a morning. Because the train only stops at Steeton the four use their bikes to continue their journey two miles to Cross Hills. But they have to catch two separate trains because only two bikes are allowed on the train at any one time.

"If someone has got on the train with a bike further down the line then they have to wait for the next one even though it could be nearly empty," adds Mr Booth.

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