Is this the end for Britain’s most controversial bike lane? Mayor calls on council to scrap “hated” cycle lane and end “ridiculous saga once and for all” – costing local authority £3 million

After over two years of bizarre shoplifting-themed complaints, a series of injuries, opposition from furious local business owners, and political spats fought out over social media, the long-running controversy surrounding a solitary cycle lane in Middlesbrough finally appears to be coming to an end, as members of the town council’s executive prepare to vote to scrap the contentious “hated” infrastructure – to the tune of £3 million.

Next week, Middlesbrough Council Executive will vote on whether to approve the proposed design submitted by Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) for the Linthorpe Road cycle lane – which will effectively return the road to the way it was before the bike lane was introduced in 2022 – a month after yet another war of words between the area’s rival mayors over the funding required to carry out the works, which the local authority have described as a “political priority”.

In October, Middlesbrough’s Labour mayor Chris Cooke accused his Conservative Tees Valley counterpart Ben Houchen of “shifting the blame” for the failure to begin work on removing the protected cycle lane on the B1272 Linthrope Road, originally designed to provide cyclists with a “quick and safe” route into the town centre while also creating a more pedestrian-friendly environment with improved road crossings.

> Controversial cycle lane “will close a whole load of businesses and cost jobs” claims mayor, as rival mayors clash over delays to infrastructure’s removal

Cooke’s comments came after Houchen claimed that Middlesbrough Council has “ignored local people” by recommending that the infrastructure should, in fact, remain in place, despite a majority of residents – 75 per cent, according to Houchen – supporting plans to reinstate the previous layout in a consultation carried out in August.

However, despite the recommendation from council officers that plans to remove the cycle lane should be scrapped, Cooke said “it has always been my intention to overrule any such recommendations”, which he said contradicted the wishes of locals, and that Houchen is “evading his responsibilities” to fund the lane’s removal.

According to the Teeside Lead, the removal works on the two-year-old bike lane are expected to cost around £3m, including repaying the £1.7m grant provided by the government to build the infrastructure.

In a written question to Tees Valley Combined Authority’s Transport Committee last week, an unnamed member of the public criticised the public discussion of the issue between the two mayors, which they said had taken place “entirely via social media”, before asking if the TVCA’s officers had been working to achieve an amicable solution to the issue.

In response, the combined authority said that funding will be released to cover the works if and when Middlesbrough Council’s Executive vote to formally scrap the scheme and approve the new road design at a meeting on 4 December.

“Once [Middlesbrough] Council confirms that the scheme has been approved, TVCA can finalise the business case. The business case will then be subject to approval through the TVCA Assurance Framework,” the authority said.

“Providing the business case is approved, TVCA will be able to release the funding to deliver the scheme. The timeframe for delivery will be confirmed in due course. TVCA officers have continued to engage with Middlesbrough Council officers.”

> New mayor defends “necessary” decision to scrap controversial cycle lane – just eight months after it was installed

Documents published by Middlesbrough Council ahead of next week’s meeting also confirm the council’s position as wishing to remove the cycle lane as a “political priority”, first identified in early 2023.

The recommendations for the Executive are to accept the new/old layout for Linthorpe Road, and to agree “a further report will be brought to the Executive, following a final, funded proposal from TVCA”.

“As a council, we’ve got it to a point where we are ready to hand over to TVCA, following that Executive decision, should it be approved,” Middlesbrough mayor Cooke told the Local Democracy Reporting Service this week.

“I’m biased, I already want it removed, so my vote is my vote. But the rest of the Executive, I expect them to read the decision fully and vote as they feel.”

Meanwhile, Houchen added: “We’ve always been clear: we would fully fund the work to ensure this happens, and this decision is the next step in allowing us to finally get on with the job of removing this hated cycle lane.

“It is my sincere hope that the council now does the right thing, signs it off, and ends this ridiculous saga once and for all. The people and businesses of Middlesbrough deserve better than these drawn-out delays.”

> “You need a degree to work out the system”: Local business owners welcome decision to rip out “absolute disaster” cycle lane which led to “lots of customers” getting parking tickets

If the council executive does vote to scrap the scheme, as expected, next week, it will bring an end to over two years of acrimony and accusations over the Linthorpe Road cycle lane.

Back in 2022, before the project – approved by the North Yorkshire town’s former independent mayor Andy Preston – was even completed, traders on the street somewhat bizarrely raised concerns that the scheme would provide a “clear getaway” for drug dealers and shoplifters.

And despite the infrastructure increasing the number of cyclists using the road by 70 per cent, the low Orca dividers initially introduced to separate the bike lane from traffic through ‘light’ segregation were almost immediately condemned for creating a safety hazard for cyclists and pedestrians, while also failing to deter motorists from illegally driving or parking in the cycle lane.

> Cyclist says motorists should be prevented from parking in bike lane “before someone gets killed”

In October 2022, cyclist Paul Harris – who was hospitalised after being hitting one of the Orca separators – claimed that the layout forced people on bikes to “constantly” dodge parked cars, buses, and pedestrians, and that a comprehensive overhaul of the lane was required “before someone gets killed”.

The 50-year-old’s nasty spill came less than two months after a 78-year-old woman was left with a broken wrist, a black eye, and concussion after tripping over one of the bike lane markers on the same road, while a 27-year-old fractured her elbow on a night out while crossing the lane.

Despite the council addressing these safety concerns by replacing the Orcas with wands, and then-mayor Preston scrapping plans for the cycle lane’s extension, the infrastructure has since proved a tense, and often messy, political battleground.

Labour’s Cooke, who replaced Preston as Middlesbrough’s mayor in 2023, made the cycle lane’s removal a key part of his election campaign, claiming it had “caused nothing but injury and mayhem”.

However, he quickly came under pressure from residents and political opponents for his “abysmal failure” to immediately rip out the lane, with Cooke claiming that the works would go ahead once the necessary funds were available.

> Political spat between Conservative and Labour mayors finally comes to an end as both reach agreement to remove "unpopular" cycle lane that "simply hasn't worked"

Tees Valley mayor Houchen also then publicly criticised Cooke’s apparent dithering, claiming that “others have promised and failed” to remove the bike lane. But, earlier this year, in an abrupt about-turn, the two feuding mayors united after reaching an agreement to rip out the “unpopular” infrastructure.

But last month, in yet another twist, that brief anti-cycle lane détente was shattered after Houchen claimed that – despite Tees Valley Combined Authority being ready “to put spades in the ground” after agreeing to fund the project – the ongoing delays to the works were a result of Middlesbrough Council recommending that the cycle lane be kept.

Nevertheless, with next week’s vote expected to revert Linthorpe Road back to its pre-active travel roots, the end appears nigh for arguably Britain’s most controversial bike lane.