THE CITY council has been reported to the information watchdog for failing to respond to a request asking for cycle-usage data on a controversial road.

A Freedom of Information request was handed to Brighton and Hove City Council in October, asking for the amount of bicycles on the Old Shoreham Road over a four-year period.

Anyone has the right to ask to see recorded information held by public authorities.

You can hand in requests, which the council must respond to, through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

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The request asked for cycle use on the road between Portslade and Dyke Road – the route of a the new, controversial cycle lane.

The council told the sender, GMB's taxi representative, Andrew Peters, that it would provide a response by December 21 – however it failed to do so.

After failing to acknowledge a follow-up email on January 8, Mr Peters lodged a formal complaint with the Information Commissioner.

The full request asked the council to:

Please supply the full data that the council holds of cycle use on the A270 between Portslade and Dyke Road for the years: 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 /2019/20 (to date)

In a bid to government last year, Brighton and Hove City Council said 545 cyclists are using the Old Shoreham Road lane in Hove a day – up from 358.

The ICO has a general duty to investigate complaints from members of the public who believe that an authority has failed to respond correctly to a request for information.

The ICO has powers to “enforce compliance” an authority fails to adopt the publication scheme or have not published information as it should.

Brighton and Hove City Council was contacted for comment.