A campaign group has called on a council to improve road safety after figures revealed the number of cyclists being injured has increased.

Between April and June of this year, 47 cyclists were injured in Brighton and Hove, compared with 44 over the same period last year, a rise of 6.8%.

Despite the increase, the figure is still well below the national increase in cycle casualties of 4,806, which equates to 9%.

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council, which supplied the figures, said the authority believed the rise was caused by more people using bikes.

Adam Pride, secretary of Brighton cycle group Bricycles, said: “Brighton is a cycling town which is meant to be encouraging more and more cyclists but the council has got to ensure the roads are safer for them, particularly those who have only recently taken up cycling.

“Until we reach a critical mass in the number of cyclists on the roads it will rise.

“In Holland, where there are more cyclists, the number is much lower.

“The number of injuries will rise as more people take cycling up.”

A spokesman for the city council said: “At the moment we do not have data to indicate if there has been a proportionate increase in the use of cycles, which we believe to be the case.

“The council works closely with other agencies and partners to reduce casualties on the city’s streets, an example being the recent Brighten Up campaign, jointly run by the council and Sussex Police to target cyclists riding at night without lights.

“The enforcement led to 116 fixed penalty notices being issued by the police and those stopped were given vouchers to collect free cycle lights from the council.

“The responsibility for making the city’s streets safer to use rests with all road user types.

It is a shared responsibility and until everybody accepts that and does their bit to address road safety instead of blaming everybody else, we will never be able to have a significant impact on the unacceptable carnage on our roads.”

There have been no cycling deaths in Brighton between January and June but in the rest of the UK the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured increased by 19% to 820.