Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council has discussed the growing problem of e-bikes and e-scooters being used anti-socially in local communities — agreeing to launch an awareness campaign and work more closely with South Wales Police. But for residents across the South Wales Valleys who have spent years watching illegal off-road motorbikes tear through their streets unchallenged, the announcement will have a familiar and deeply frustrating ring to it.
The Numbers Don’t Add Up
Cabinet considered a report on June 15 which revealed that between April 2025 and March 2026, just 65 road-related anti-social behaviour incidents were recorded across the whole of Rhondda Cynon Taf — less than one percent of total ASB incidents for the year. Even Cabinet Members themselves acknowledged this figure is a massive underrepresentation of reality.
And therein lies the central problem. The Council cannot obtain powers to act — such as a Public Spaces Protection Order or a new byelaw — without sufficient evidence. But the evidence cannot be gathered if residents don’t report incidents, don’t know how to report them, or have simply given up doing so because nothing ever happens when they do.
It is a circular problem that will take more than an awareness campaign to solve.
The Ghost of Off-Road Motorbikes
Anyone who has attended a PACT — Police and Communities Together — meeting in the Rhondda, Cynon or Taff valleys over the past decade will know that illegal off-road motorbikes have been the single most persistent talking point raised by residents, year after year after year. No tax. No insurance. No helmets in many cases. Ridden openly on public highways, pavements, and through parks in broad daylight.
And yet the problem has never been meaningfully resolved. The reason is well understood by those who have raised it repeatedly at those meetings: police officers cannot pursue off-road bikes on safety grounds, and unless a traffic officer happens to be present — which in a stretched, underfunded force is a rarity — enforcement is effectively impossible.
E-bikes are now joining that conversation at PACT meetings across the valleys, presenting many of the same challenges. Compliant e-bikes are legal, but the Highway Code requires responsible use — a requirement that is, in practice, unenforceable without police resource. All privately-owned e-scooters are illegal on public roads, pavements and cycle paths, yet they are ridden openly every day across RCT’s communities.
Passing the Buck
The Council’s report is candid about one thing: enforcement is not RCT’s responsibility. That sits firmly with South Wales Police. The Council’s own role is limited largely to Trading Standards — ensuring vehicles sold are safe — and partnership working through the RCT Community Safety Partnership.
In other words, the Council can talk, consult, campaign and gather evidence. But it cannot act unilaterally, and it is dependent on a police force that is already overstretched, underfunded, and has struggled for years to make meaningful inroads into the off-road vehicle problem that predates the e-bike era entirely.
Intentions Without Funding
Cabinet Member Councillor Bob Harris spoke of the need to better understand the issues faced by the public and to encourage more formal reporting. These are worthy aims. But good intentions do not come with a price tag attached in this announcement — and there is no mention of what funding, if any, is being committed to the awareness campaign or to any future enforcement activity.
South Wales Police, like every force in Wales and England, has faced years of budget cuts. The Mid Glamorgan Off Road Vehicle Organisational Group meets bi-monthly — but meetings do not stop bikes. The RCT Community Safety Partnership exists — but partnerships do not replace officers on the ground with the powers and resources to act.
What Residents Actually Want
Residents across the valleys are not asking for consultations, awareness campaigns or working groups. They are asking for the nuisance to stop. They want to be able to walk through their local park without being buzzed by an e-scooter. They want their children to play in the street without illegal bikes roaring past. They have been raising these issues at PACT meetings for years, and they are weary of being told that the problem is being taken seriously.
Until South Wales Police receives the funding it needs to enforce the laws that already exist — and until the Council is honest with residents about the limitations of what any awareness campaign can realistically achieve — the danger is that this latest initiative will follow the same well-worn path as every initiative before it.
Good intentions. No funding. No change.
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