Cycling campaign keeps Bute Park open longer

Bute Park has been open for longer since cycling campaigners lobbied to keep it open until 7pm. After a three-month trial, Cardiff Council has agreed to continue the later locking until the clocks go forward in March.

Riverside Councillor Iona Gordon, also a keen cyclist, welcomed the trial’s extension and said it was not just cyclists who were benefiting from the park’s later opening hours. She said: “A lot of pedestrians have said they’ve been using the path often.

“Walking through the park takes about ten minutes, but to go around takes almost 45 minutes. It’s a huge short cut.”
Graphic designer Chris Thorkelson uses the shortcut on a regular basis and told The Cardiffian the later opening hours have been really helpful. He said: “I am somewhat disabled, but can still bike with difficulty and this saves me at least a mile of hard extra biking in the winter darkness to get across town.”

He added: “I fully support the move to keep the gates open - better still for me would be to keep them open, quietly, until 8:30 or 9:00 pm or a bit later.”

Do you use the park after hours? If so we want to see your photos, we'll be putting together a flickr gallery of people using the park. Email them to us or post them on flickr and drop us a line letting us know.