A £4 million cycle lane along Hove seafront has been app roved by the new Labour council cabinet. The scheme involves removing one lane on the existing westbound side of the A259 Kingsway between Fourth Avenue and the Hove Street traffic lights, near the King Alfred Leisure Centre. Between Hove Street and Wharf Road, at Hove Lagoon, transport chiefs plan to widen the existing narrowcycle lane, which is on the pavement, to make it two-way.
The scheme was first approved almost two years ago, at a cost of £475,000, by the previous Green administration, with support from Labour. The Conservatives voted against it. But a year ago, shortly after Labour won a majority at the local elections, the council terminated the works contract and put the scheme on hold for a redesign.
The final total cost of preparatory work and terminating the contract held by RJ Dance has not been made public but there have been suggestions that it was a six-figure sum. A report to councillors last June also put the price of the redesigned and upgraded scheme at just under £1 million. At the time, Green opposition leader Steve Davis said that Labour’s proposed redesign of the scheme consisted of “champagne dreams on light ale money”.
The cycling campaign group Bricycles said this week that the cost of the new scheme was now four times higher than originally planned. The cabinet hopes to part-fund the Hove cycle lane with national “active travel” funding of £1.2 million that was allocated to pl.
