MP blames Brighton and Hove council over cycle lane anger

Hove and Portslade MP Peter Kyle accused Brighton and Hove City Council’s leadership of acting on “half-truths” and says he has lost faith in the authority to take a balanced view of local opinion.

Key data to inform residents about the lanes is having to be “dragged out” through litigation, he says, and residents who disagree with the plans across the city are “being ignored”.

He accused Green politicians of having an “ideological determination to revolutionise our lives without consent”.

READ MORE: Green council responds to MP's comments over handling of cycle lanes

Mr Kyle said: “They have turned a common sense issue which is making our public space cycle friendly into a monumental Battle Royale that has sucked in residents who have no interest in a public fight.

“They simply want to get to work, or the GP surgery, or pick kids up from school and now feel the need to enter battle riled, angry and feeling like victims.

“I was cycling along one of the temporary cycle lanes when someone got so angry in a souped-up Renault Five that they suddenly started knocking all the bollards down – there was smoke coming from the wheels.

“That is the anger that has been generated and I don’t want to sit quietly when the community I represent is starting to seethe with this kind of upset and anger. That is why I’m speaking out now.”

Mr Kyle blasted the council for acting on “half-truths” after a Freedom of Information request revealed the figures from a data counter on the Old Shoreham Road cycle lane.

The data – which showed a vast fall in cycle lane usage between July and August – was eventually provided by the council after the information watchdog intervened.

He said: “They don’t trust residents to engage in an open hearted debate rooted in evidence and experience, they wrongly believe that if they release all the information and have an honest conversation they won’t get the revolution that is their desired outcome."

He added: “I think that is a huge disservice to residents of our city. Our city deserves leaders who engage on fact, not half-truths.

“You don’t have to drag information out of a council that genuinely believes in consultation and public engagement, you just don’t.”

The Labour representative’s comments come amid a public consultation over road changes across the city, which include controversial lanes on the Old Shoreham Road and A259 installed last year.

The “temporary” measures on the Old Shoreham Road were introduced last May – by the then-Labour Administration – in a bid to provide a socially distanced travel alternative throughout the pandemic. The closure of Madeira Drive and a cycle lane on the A259 seafront road were also included within the raft of measures.

The Green-led council has now introduced a number of road closures under the School Streets initiatives and wants to extend the current cycle lanes.

The public consultation finishes on Sunday. However, Mr Kyle says residents believe their answers might be twisted to suit an agenda.

He said: “One resident that contacted me told me that she had spent ages considering each word of her sentences that she submitted just so that the council could not paraphrase or clip any part of any sentence to twist its meaning.

“The fact that residents believe that our council is doing that shows a deep problem with how residents now view our council.

“I know many people that will not engage in the consultation because in their words, they believe it’s a sham.

“To be quite frank, the way that certain things have been happening in recent months certainly provide people who wanted to believe that with plenty of evidence.”

A previous council survey asked people whether they supported the Old Shoreham Lane. Of those that responded, 66 per cent were against.

The administration was asked by the Conservatives to include a similar “yes/no” question in its new public consultation questionnaire, but it refused.

“I have got to the point where I have lost faith in our council to take a balanced view of local public opinion and act upon it,” Mr Kyle said.

Mr Kyle is calling on opposition parties to withdraw their support for “whole-sale change of road use” until a park and ride scheme has been identified and passed by the planning committee.

But Mr Kyle added: "Fundamentally everyone agrees we need to modernise use of road space as people's travel preferences evolve, but the big difference I have with the way our city is being led is the manner in which they are taking our city forward."