HUNDREDS of people have signed a petition calling for the city's transport chief to resign over "insulting" behaviour at meetings.

Green councillor Amy Heley is the chairwoman of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee on Brighton and Hove City Council.

The role has involved overseeing a series of fiery meetings about the future of cycle lanes in the city, including the now-scrapped route on Old Shoreham Road.

The petition on Change.org has now been signed by nearly 500 people and reads: "Councillor Amy Heley has on numerous occasions exhibited behaviour that could be considered to bring the institution into disrepute.

READ MORE: Argus comment on Amy Heley petition

"Her unprofessional demeanour and conduct is unbecoming of somebody in her position of public office and goes against the members' code of conduct that she is duty-bound to adhere to.

"Everyone has the right to express their views, and everyone has the right for those views to be respected and not to be treated with contempt in a churlish manner. Evidence of this attitude can be viewed on the council's webcast of these meetings.

"The recent meetings of July 27 and August 10 have to be the perfect example of how not to behave."

The petition claims she used "condescending comments, disrespectful tactics that included attempts at emotional blackmail."

It adds: "It was extremely insulting in the face of a well thought through and sensible reflective speech in the meeting of August 10 on previous events for her to respond 'Lost for words. Full of Hypocrisy'.

"We the undersigned now ask Amy Heley to resign her positions."

The Brighton and Hove Green Group was contacted for comment about the petition.

Earlier this week, Labour's member for transport, Councillor Gary Wilkinson, penned a letter to Cllr Heley claiming she had been "rude and dismissive" to members of the public.

Cllr Heley had described Labour’s stance on the removal of the Old Shoreham Road cycle lane as “full of hypocrisy” and opposition to the controversial lane as “shameful”.

"In all my years of working in and following local government, I’ve never known a committee chair to conduct themselves or a meeting in the manner you did that day," the letter added.

Cllr Heley had opened a debate on the future of the Old Shoreham Road routes by reading messages from children and questioning councillors, "does anyone want to respond to that?"

In the meeting, former Labour leader Nancy Platts said: "You want people to vote with you, but being rude to people isn't helpful.

"People are trying to make difficult decisions based on facts."

Earlier this week, the Greens have criticised Cllr Wilkinson for not pursuing his concerns through the council’s process for disputes.

In a statement, they said; “The council has a process for managing disputes where councillors or members of the public feel standards have been breached.

“It is disappointing councillor Wilkinson has not chosen to go through this process which is open to him should he feel fault has occurred.

“This process enables a fair discussion of the issues, but Cllr Wilkinson has instead opted to issue an open letter.

“We wish to make no further comment on this letter and will instead use the process open to us should we feel appropriate.”