We need to keep looking for a route to compromise

Awise man once said: ‘You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.’ This was never truer than in the case of the controversial cycle lane in Elm Grove, Southsea, which has been scrapped after a trial lasting just three weeks.

Seen by some as a positive move to encourage cleaner personal transport and fitness; others bemoaned the loss of car parking spaces and traders claimed they were losing passing trade because of it.

Business people in the area are now celebrating its demise.

Khoshnaw Agha, 48, owner of the Mediterranean Supermarket in Elm Grove said: ‘I am so happy it has gone. We were really struggling with the lane there.’

Neighbour Liz Penman has been running a click-and-collect service during lockdown, also expressed her delight, and said the segregated cycle lane had made deliveries a nightmare, with drivers having to park some distance away.

We have sympathies with traders who have enough to battle with at the moment, without extra obstacles being placed in their way.

But surely a way can be found to make our roads safer and more enticing for cyclists?

A spokesman from the Pompey Cycle Forum made a good point, claiming flaws in the trial meant the cycle route had not been able to prove its worth.

The forum says people who would like to use pedal power more often are frightened off the city’s perilous roads.

There could well be merit in other trials of segregated cycle routes in other parts of the city, carried out during the warmer months, maybe.

Only that way are we likely to find a solution that will benefit cyclists without disadvantaging other residents and business people.