A £4 MILLION award-winning transport scheme is causing hundreds of motorists to avoid the area and it has not helped to reduce air quality which breaches EU standards, according to a new report.

The report by the city council has found that the Lewes Road is suffering pollution problems a year after the scheme's completion and drivers are heading through Woodingdean and Rottingdean instead.

The report blames a “street canyon effect” of close together buildings which is preventing pollutants from escaping while a council spokeswoman said the weather could also affect readings.

Council officers said the effects on safety, air quality and traffic will continue to be monitored and that the full impact of the scheme could only be properly measured after three years.

But some councillors said awards for the scheme were given too early as it is causing huge problems to residents living where traffic is being displaced.

The Brighton and Hove City Council report revealed the number of bus passengers as well as bus reliability and punctuality has increased, as have journeys by bike and by taxi journeys while general traffic has reduced.

Journey times have only increased by around a minute with lowered speed limits partly to blame and less than the five minutes predicted before the scheme’s implementation.

But councillors have taken issue with the report’s authors who claim that alternative routes such as Falmer Road had seen “a negligible increase” in traffic from motorists avoiding Lewes Road.

Falmer Road now accommodates 16,104 more cars per day compared to 15,292 two years ago while Ditchling Road now has more than 500 than in 2013.

The report’s authors also claim that side roads have generally not experienced substantial changes in queuing but morning peak queue lengths in Hollingdean Road have tripled despite the addition of an extra lane.

Concerns have also been raised about the failure of the road changes to bring about a reduction in air quality which continue to exceed EU safety limits.

Rottingdean councillor Mary Mears said: “By certain measures in this report, you would not be able to claim it has been successful.

“Even those figures seem quite a low percentage, in reality at certain times of the day I would say there is a lot more diverted traffic than that.

“And this is not just once a week or once a month, this is constant."

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokeswoman said: "The council will use all the information gathered to look at whether minor changes are needed to improve performance of the Lewes Road scheme."

Martin Harris, Brighton and Hove Buses managing director, warned that air pollution could have increased in Lewes Road if the improvement works had not taken place and more improvements might be seen this year with more low emission buses on the route.

RESIDENTS UP IN ARMS OVER BIG TRAFFIC DIVERSIONS

IRATE residents angry about the amount of traffic now being diverted through Woodingdean are contacting councillors daily.

Almost 1,000 extra cars are travelling through the green Brighton suburb every day since a major overhaul of Lewes Road was completed.

Woodingdean councillor Dee Simson said the impact on residents’ lives had been significant.

She said: “I think I can speak for about 90 per cent of the residents of Woodingdean when I say that the impact has not been negligible.

"How can 1,000 more cars a day be considered negligible?

“At least now the council is admitting there is some impact, previously I had been told there was no additional traffic and no impact.

"With Valley Gardens coming up, you do worry what is going to be the impact.”

Cllr Simson said she wished she had a “magic wand” to resolve the problem but said she was not sure what could be done.

In addition to the revamp of city centre Valley Gardens, a number of proposed housing developments have residents concerned that traffic will only worsen in the future 

Fellow Conservative councillor Mary Mears said: “There are lots of planning applications now for East Brighton but nothing seemingly in the council’s transport plan on how to manage that increased traffic in the long-term.”

Martin Harris, Brighton and Hove Buses managing director, said there had been congestion at Woodingdean traffic lights for many years and questioned whether many car drivers would choose to detour via Downs Hotel away from Lewes Road. 

One suggestion of opening up bus lanes to be used by general traffic during non-peak hours has been given short shrift by Mr Harris, which he described as “pointless and counter-productive”.

He said: “There would be no tangible benefit to road users at those times and a considerable risk of more confusion, abuse and weaker enforcement at other times.”