Seriously, who thought it would be a good idea to force cyclists to use the middle of the road? There is also a 1.5 metre overtake rule in place now where you'll literally have to be in the other lane. Cyclists are also being encouraged to be two abreast if with others to clog up lanes further. I can only see this increasing traffic jams, causing more rear-end accidents and generally antagonising drivers more against people who don't have to pay road tax or require any licence despite having hundreds of millions ploughed into unused cycle lanes over the years. If they think this will increase the amount of people that decide to bike then they are sorely deluded beyond any comprehension. Also cars now must give way to pedestrians crossing at junctions which will cause slowdown and more accidents.
In the last year where I live, they've also been experimenting with these LTN's (Low Traffic Neighborhood) schemes where they block off a selection of roads to allegedly reduce pollution and traffic in these zones but all it has done is cause road users to divert to alternative routes, clog them up spectacularly, increase travel time by an excess of 30 minutes and most importantly, they have cut off key emergency service routes in the town which is absolutely diabolical. The people making these decisions are absolute fucking fools. I often bike and I know quite a few others who do this to get to work or cycle casually and we either use the edge of the road without concern or the cycle tracks provided at great expense. I wouldn't dream of cycling in the middle or causing hold-ups to people getting to work or going about their day.
It's unbelievable really