Council 'acted illegally' removing Upper Shoreham Road cycle lane

West Sussex County Council was ordered to pay £25,000 in legal costs to Cycling UK following a judicial review on the removal of a cycle lane in Upper Shoreham Road.

The Upper Shoreham Road cycle lane in Shoreham was installed at the end of September 2020 through the government’s emergency active travel fund, the same fund that financed the Old Shoreham Road cycle lane in Brighton.

The aim of the fund was to get more people cycling and walking during the pandemic. But the council decided to remove the cycle lane in November 2020, contrary to government guidance.

• READ MORE: Campaign group says permanent cycle lane could work after calls for it to be removed from plans

According to Cycling UK, the lane was used for 30,000 trips, serving five schools along its length. It also featured in a government publicity video highlighting the community benefits of the new cycle lanes introduced during lockdown in 2020.

The council said it settled the court case “to avoid further cost to the public purse” and admitted it should have included in a report a “clearer account of government guidance” before making its decision to remove the cycle lane.

Cycling UK says this is a “victory for people” who want cleaner air and safer streets.

Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK’s head of campaigns, said: “In Shoreham, Cycling UK has drawn a line in the sand, showing there are repercussions for councils which ignore government guidance.

Picture from Shoreham-By-Cycle

“Hopefully West Sussex County Council’s acceptance they acted illegally will put a stop to short sighted decisions like this happening across other parts of the UK.

“This is a victory for people who want their children to travel to school in safety, for people who don’t have to breathe polluted air, and for everyone who would like healthier, safer streets where we live and work.”

Rowan Smith, lead solicitor on this case from Leigh Day, said: “This is a massive legal, as well as campaigning, victory that will benefit cyclists in West Sussex and across the country.

• READ MORE: Judicial review granted over council's decision to remove temporary cycle lane

“Such great news comes in the wake of the Government setting up Active Travel England, a new body with powers to rank local authorities on the quality of cycling provision in their areas.”

A West Sussex County Council spokesman said: “We have settled the court case so as to avoid further cost to the public purse in relation to a decision taken some time ago and which has no implications for other proposals or schemes.

“We have accepted that we should have included in a council report a clearer account of government guidance and its effect before taking the decision. This may or may not have led to a different a decision about the temporary cycleway in Shoreham.

Picture from Shoreham-By-Cycle

“Cycling UK has expended a great deal of money on this process but there is no prospect of the temporary Upper Shoreham Road cycleway scheme – which was introduced as an emergency, temporary measure during the pandemic - being restored and the guidance in question no longer applies.

“The declaration therefore has no significance other than to resolve the litigation Cycling UK chose to undertake. We decided to minimise costs by making the declaration rather than have the matter go to a further hearing where the best outcome Cycling UK could reasonably have achieved would have been the declaration now agreed.

“As part of the settlement, the County Council offered to make a contribution of £25,000 towards the legal costs incurred by Cycling UK.”

Since removal of the cycle lane, West Sussex County Council has made a public commitment to increase space for cycling on the A270 Upper Shoreham Road.

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