A former councillor turned cycle lane sleuth is trying to unravel the city’s bike routes.

Ted Kemble noticed the new cycle path being constructed in Old Shoreham Road is more than a metre wider than the lanes in Grand Avenue.

Mr Kemble has asked the council’s Cabinet member for transport Ian Davey to explain the reasons behind the discrepancy.

The former Conservative councillor for the Wish ward told The Argus: “When they started putting in the Old Shoreham Road cycle lane I noticed it was substantially wider than the one in Grand Avenue and the Drive.

“Normally that road carries one to two lanes of traffic, and with this bit of lane being so wide it brings that down to pretty much one lane.

“I always thought cycle lanes were a standard width but once I started looking at it I realised there is quite a bit of difference.

“A normal lane for traffic is three metres wide – but parts of the cycle lane in Old Shoreham Road are not far from that.

“It varies from 2.4 metres to 2.7 metres across the length of the Upper Drive. Outside BHASVIC it’s 1.7metres.

“I have tried asking Ian Davey why this is but have not been able to get an answer.”

Mr Kemble was a member of the previous Conservative administration that brought in the controversial cycle lane in Grand Avenue – which was predicted to have cost £250 a metre – then proposed spending another £1.1 million removing it last year.

National cycling campaign group CTC recommend that cycle paths should not be less than 1.5 metres wide, but recommend two metres are needed to give people riding bikes “adequate road space”.

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: “The priority with cycle lanes is to make sure they’re safe and legal but, depending on available space and how heavily a route will be used, the widths may vary."

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