The post you are reporting:
As I read it it is illegal to ride on pavements "beside roads" (so you can on those through alleyways and parks etc)
"Penalty on persons committing nuisances by riding on footpaths, &c.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1 If any person shall wilfully ride upon any footpath or causeway by the side of any road made or set apart for the use or accommodation of foot passengers; or shall wilfully lead or drive any horse, ass, sheep, mule, swine, or cattle or carriage of any description, or any truck or sledge, upon any such footpath or causeway; or shall tether any horse, ass, mule, swine, or cattle, on any highway, so as to suffer or permit the tethered animal to be thereon;. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F2; every person so offending in any of the cases aforesaid shall for each and every such offence forfeit and pay any sum not exceeding [F3level 2 on the standard scale], over and above the damages occasioned thereby".
(Highways Act 1835 Sect 72)
I also understand it is one of the few offences which Police AND PCSOs can give fines for.
The discussion should be about proper provision for pedestrians and cyclist rather than being forced to share very limited space. Putting red tarmac or the occasional white line on a road does not make safe provision or encourage people to take to their bicycles. Where we have two lane, one-way, traffic we should reduce one lane to cars and the other to buses and bikes. That would discourage car use, as it would become a slow business, and entice people to take up cycling or use faster public transport.
Unfortunately the car is king and this will not happen all the time we give it supremacy.