THE council has written to the government “clarifying” claims made in a multi-million pound bid for taxpayer cash to expand cycle lanes.

Brighton and Hove City Council said it was an “unintentional oversight” to not include dates used in a claim that the Old Shoreham Road cycle lane “had seen an increase of 61 per cent”.

The claim was used in a successful bid for £2.4 million of government funding, which could see controversial lanes on the road – and those on the A259 – extended to the western boundary.

The figure had been calculated by comparing a 2016 count with a video survey conducted last July.

A Freedom of Information request later revealed the following month saw an overall reduction in cycle usage.

When contacted, a spokesman for the council said: “We were made aware after sending in our original bid that we hadn’t included certain clarifications – date, duration and location of counts – about the traffic count data we were quoting for the Old Shoreham Road.

“This was an unintentional oversight.

“It was therefore entirely appropriate for us to go back to the Department of Transport with these clarifications, which we have now done.

“We would stress that the actual information itself about the traffic count data has not changed.”

READ MORE: How many cyclists are using Old Shoreham Road cycle lane?

Cllr Robert Nemeth, Conservative transport spokesman, said “It is deeply concerning just how many corners were cut by the Labour/Green Coalition in scrabbling to push through a highly divisive series of changes without due care and attention.

“For changes of this magnitude, proper discussion and consultation is necessary."

The clarification comes after a formal complaint from resident Rob Arbery, who wrote to the council’s chief executive Geoff Raw earlier this month.

Green councillor Amy Heley, chairwoman of the environment, transport and sustainability committee said:“It is normal practice that the council makes clarifications of this kind. We’ve already clarified this.

“It’s disappointing that the conservatives are still not on board with the council’s efforts to combat deadly air pollution, provide alternative modes of transport for school children and those who don’t have cars, and are not as committed as they say to becoming a carbon-neutral city by 2030.

"They constantly show a misunderstanding of the Conservative Government’s directives for local authorities to swiftly re-allocate road space to walking and cycling infrastructure during the pandemic and also to aid recovery as lockdown starts to lift.

“They also continue to ignore the engagement work we have done, such as establishing the Active and Inclusive Travel forum and putting money in the budget for a disability officer to ensure that voices from the disability community are heard.

"Instead of providing constructive criticism on this engagement process and getting behind the six week consultation that we ran, that had over 5,000 responses, sadly it seems that conservative councillors are only interested in political point scoring.”