The mayor of Middlesbrough has confirmed when work will begin on removing the controversial Linthorpe Road cycle lane.
Tuesday 26 August, will be the day when spades will hit the ground to remove the lane – almost three years after the inception of the “sorry chapter”. Middlesbrough Labour Mayor Chris Cooke says lessons need to be learned from the scheme, while at the same time encouraging cycling and walking.
Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) is footing the bill of more than £2m to strip it out and reinstate the road, after government funding was originally used to install the cycle lanes.
Work on the project was completed in September 2022, after the council received £1.7m in government funding through the TVCA to encourage active travel. The cycle lanes were so unpopular that both Mayor Cooke and Tees Valley Conservative Mayor Ben Houchen pledged to remove them in their respective election campaigns in 2023 and 2024.
Mayor Houchen now says the page can finally be turned on this “sorry chapter” for Middlesbrough.
Several people suffered injuries from the ridged design, including OAP Dorothy and clubber Samantha Skene, who say they tripped over it. Local businesses weren’t fans either and reported a loss in custom due to a shortage in parking.
Image: LDRS
With a date for removal works now confirmed and an appointed contractor legally signed off, Mayor Cooke said: “After listening to businesses and residents I pledged the cycle lane would go. The work will start next month and TVCA will pay for every penny. That is absolutely the right end result. We do want to encourage more people to cycle and walk, but future schemes have to be in the right place and learn the lessons from this saga.”
The cycle lane has received overwhelming negative feedback since its installation was completed in September 2022, being described as “disastrous” at a full council meeting in October 2023. Consultation on its removal took place over the summer of 2024, followed by a war of words between the two mayors in the autumn as to who was at fault for the delays.
Mayor Cooke and his executive voted in February this year to remove the lanes following complaints from road users .
The executive agenda from February detailed the money allocated for the project, saying: “TVCA has provided a Funding Agreement Letter stating that it will provide capital resource totalling £2.17m to remove the infrastructure and complete the re-instatement works. This includes a Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) value of £0.286m which can be drawn down by the council subject to approval of TVCA.”
In May, Mayor Houchen named July as the all-important date for when the cycle lane would be removed, which was not echoed at the time by Mayor Cooke. However, at this month’s full council, the Middlesbrough mayor said that work should commence at either the end of July or start of August, with a date in late August now finally confirmed.
The council has said that, as set out in the public consultation carried out by TVCA, certain elements of the scheme will remain on safety grounds. These include the road closures at Victoria Road, next to the Swatters Carr pub, and at the King Edward’s Square university accommodation. Residents and businesses that will be affected by the works will receive full information in due course.
Middlesbrough and Thornaby East Labour MP Andy McDonald has welcomed the news, as has Tees Valley Mayor Houchen, who said: “Good, it is about time, and we can finally turn the page on this sorry chapter for Middlesbrough. I said I’d sort it for the council, and it is going. Let’s get it ripped out, and let local businesses get back to their lives.”
The implementation of the cycle lane was approved under former Independent Mayor Andy Preston, who now backs the removal.
