Old Shoreham Road cycle lane: Council to consider petitions

The two petitions going before Brighton and Hove City Council next week have more than 1,600 signatures which means they have surpassed the threshold to trigger a debate.

A temporary cycle lane was installed in May 2020 using money from the government’s Covid-19 Emergency Active Travel Fund.

Conservative and Labour councillors voted to remove the lane in August last year.

Some people want to see a return of the cycle lane

After workers removed plastic fronds and burnt off the white lines in September, a guerilla cycle lane was hand-painted on the road by Hove Recreation Ground before the council removed it again.

Councillors will hear from the two petitioners when they meet on Thursday 7 April, and discuss how to progress.

Pascale Palazzo is the lead petitioner calling for a permanent, well-planned, high-quality cycle lane for Old Shoreham Road.

She said the temporary cycle lane gave children the freedom to travel safely, and now they face braving “terrifying traffic”.

Mrs Palazzo's petition said: “We’re a group of parents and children who used the Old Shoreham Road to get to school, work and leisure activities.

“We want our children to be able to cycle to school as it’s good for their physical and mental health, it gives them independence, saves time and money and keeps down emissions.

“We’d also like delivery riders and commuters to get around without risking their lives.

“This can only happen if the roads are safe. New government policy says ‘cyclists must be physically separated from high volume motor traffic’, which means protected lanes on roads like the Old Shoreham Road.

“We want a fast and direct route, as the policy describes.”

Opponents of the cycle lane cite a number of concerns including congestion

A cycle lane on Old Shoreham Road is included in the council’s Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP), which prompted Old Shoreham Road resident Jeremy Horne to launch his petition.

The petition describes the temporary cycle lane as a “16-month failure” with few people using the lane.

It also states a consultation carried out in 2021 was “damning”, with 91 per cent of comments reflecting negatively about the lane.

Mr Horen’s petition statement said: “Following the removal, a group of local parents have set up a ‘bike train’ along the Old Shoreham Road to get the ‘thousands’ of children that used the cycle lane to school.

“A grand total of a five children (maximum) have been counted on the opening runs – and additionally, the organisers only run the ‘train’ once a week due to lack of demand.

“Thus proving (as we all knew) that children never used it in their droves (as many activists would have liked us to believe).

“There are better ways of setting up cycling infrastructure for those that do want it, rather than implementing permanent lane closures.”

The cycle lane was eventually removed last year

Each petitioner has three minutes to present their case, and councillors have 15 minutes to discuss how to proceed.

Both petitions are open on the city council’s website until Wednesday 6 April.

Brighton and Hove City Council meets at Hove Town Hall from 6.30pm on Thursday 7 April.

The meeting is scheduled for webcast on the council website.