The city of Brighton and Hove may have a reputation for quirkiness but the plan by Conservative councillors to remove cycle lanes at a cost of £1.1m (The Argus, February 18) may be taking this to new heights.

The Drive in Hove is a route I use regularly both by car and by bicycle and from this experience I would question the Conservatives’ assertion that a build-up of traffic is a problem there.

One minor example to illustrate this point is the smooth running of the council/ public bus 11x, which takes The Drive as part of its route. It runs exactly to time and seems never to be subject to delays.

Indeed, The Drive seems considerably less congested than any other main road in Hove, in spite of the presence of cycle lanes.

Likewise, the suggestion that The Drive is an important route for traffic from Shoreham Harbour doesn’t seem to ring true. Surely port traffic takes the quickest route, which is the B1239, along Church/Trafalgar Road. And besides, do residents of The Drive actually want an increase in port traffic?

On the question of aesthetics there seems to me no appreciable difference in the post-2008 appearance of The Drive. The parking arrangements are the same in the nearby avenues and The Drive looks similar to these other streets.

Cycling along The Drive is definitely safer, although admittedly there is an increased risk for pedestrians traversing the cycle lanes. But that is a problem common to all cycle lanes and they are still, I would suggest, less dangerous for pedestrians to traverse than crossing roads.

The main argument against the Conservative proposal, however, must be the collosal expenditure of council funds. This large sum of money could be much better spent elsewhere – on our crumbling heritage, on an art gallery, a new ice rink and so on.

If the plan to remove the lanes goes ahead then, added to what was spent on their construction, we as residents will have nothing to show for a whisker short of £2m.

Malcolm Lyons
Friar Crescent, Brighton