IN MANY ways it’s hard to know where to start, but I suppose the article by Chris Todd in Saturday’s Argus is appropriate.

This article is what has finally nudged me into writing this letter, although I have been contemplating it for some time.

I am a nearly 70 year old resident of Brighton.

I have a car, but don’t drive it into the centre of Brighton, mainly because I am lucky enough to be pretty active, so walking to and from bus stops is not too much of an ask.

However, up to last year, when I sadly lost my mother, I did drive her around, to a variety of medical appointments, to the shops including into the centre of town, and to parks and gardens as we both enjoyed this immensely.

She was 94 when she died.

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Mentally as bright as a button but physically almost housebound, unless I took her out in the car.

She is gone now, but we have a large number of old people living in Brighton and Hove who simply cannot walk, get the bus or ride a bicycle in this new, improved potentially car-free environment.

Realistically, have you given any thought to what they will do, Mr Todd?

Never forget that one day, you too will be old and infirm and unable to ride your bicycle.

The artist’s impression which accompanies Mr Todd’s article is lovely, of course, but I’m a tad sceptical that it will actually look like that in reality.

For one thing, I fear it will quickly be covered in graffiti and rubbish, both of which are blights on what was once our fair city.

Where the graffiti issue is concerned I am utterly flabbergasted at the astonishing suggestion by our council that house owners and businesses should pay to clean up the mess these mindless yobs inflict on their properties.

Whingeing about the difficulty of tracking down the offenders just doesn’t wash. I regularly visit other cities around Britain who somehow seem to have dealt effectively with this problem.

One final point - well I have several but I’ll stick to the bicycle access our council seems determined to impose on us all, whatever our age.

Can Mr Todd or someone from the council please explain how the cycle lane on Old Shoreham Road has improved traffic congestion?

I have travelled along that road regularly, at different times of the day and week, and rarely see more than a handful of cyclists using this - what was it called?

The “Rolls Royce” of cycle lanes - whilst traffic is at a standstill, thus spewing out car fumes, now that the road is single lane.

And don’t start me on the cycle lane at the top of Ditchling Road, which most cyclists don’t even use, continuing instead to use the road. What was the point it installing that at vast cost to taxpayers?

Tina Johnson, Fiveways