TWO rival petitions about the Old Shoreham Road cycle lane are almost level pegging as they come up for debate next week.

A temporary cycle lane has been put in place along the main Hove road as part of a series of measures designed to encourage people displaced from public transport to get on their bike.

More than 4,000 people signed a petition to remove the cycle lane, that extends from The Drive to Hangleton Lane, on the Portslade border.

Meanwhile, campaigners calling to keep the cycle lane have more than 3,600 signatures supporting their case.

As both have passed Brighton and Hove City Council’s threshold of 1,250 signatures, they will be debated at a full council meeting on Thursday, 23 July.

The temporary cycle lane introduced in May – along Old Shoreham Road between Hangleton Road and the Sackville Road and Nevill Road traffic lights – was the first created as part of the local response to the coronavirus crisis.

Brighton and Hove City Council said that the dedicated lanes – one on each of the dual carriageway – followed government guidance to encourage cycling during the coronavirus crisis and were part of the local “recovery programme”.

The petition campaigning for its removal, created by Peter Challis said: “This was implemented without reference to the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee, nor all the affected councillors, and without any consultation with the electorate, or any transport groups (other than Sustrans).

“It does not meet the government’s criteria for a ‘Covid Cycle Lane’ as there is little public transport using this section of road.

“Since its introduction, the use by cyclists is minimal, mainly as a result of the route being hilly and not linking anywhere of any real interest.

“The remaining single lane used for other traffic is seeing increasing traffic and subsequent congestion at junctions as government ‘lock down’ restrictions are relaxed.”

Chris Williams’ petition in favour of keeping the lane, said: “Around 30 per cent of households in the city do not have a car.

“Given current advice to avoid public transport, walking and cycling are obvious options.

“With the reduced traffic in lockdown, there has been a huge rise in the number of people cycling, but many people who wish to cycle feel unsafe doing so in dense, fast-moving traffic, such as that found on the Old Shoreham Road.

“The solution to this is segregated cycle lanes.”

At the full council meeting, petitioners have three minutes to put their case before councillors have 15 minutes to debate the issue

Both petitions are still available on the authority’s website at brighton-hove.gov.uk.

The council meeting is live-streamed on the authority’s website from 4.30pm on Thursday 23 July.