I'VE A great deal of respect for the environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth.

But the letter from their local representative, Chris Todd, when talking about Phelim Mac Cafferty's plane flight to Glasgow "Campaigner slams COP26 blunder as 'stupid'" (The Argus, November 10) strayed into hysteria when he then went on to describe the removal of the Old Shoreham Road cycle lanes as "one of the best machines for tackling climate change, the Old Shoreham Road cycle lane, being ripped out, making reducing emissions from transport even harder".

This is clearly ludicrous and totally over the top and does nothing to build bridges with local residents who want to support action to reduce emissions and

global warming.

I don't want to reopen the debate on this, but the Old Shoreham Road cycle lanes were introduced with no notice at all, initially caused huge traffic jams and then traffic displacement into surrounding side roads and, most significantly, were chronically under used even after a year of being in place.

They also caused a toxic divide between most local residents and some environmental campaigners including Green councillors who made outrageous statements about those of us who said they needed to be removed.

I didn't celebrate their removal, like some local councillors. It was a great shame that they didn't get used enough to warrant their continuation, but I was relieved that the views of local people were eventually taken into account and that common sense ultimately prevailed.

It's regrettable that funding from central government for the so-called "Capability Fund" was reduced but this was funding yet to be awarded so won't impact on current council finances.

We all need to work together on climate change and I'm afraid Chris Todd using the language that he did does nothing to encourage or facilitate this.

Peter Atkinson

Independent councillor for North Portslade