Rising costs see council spend £878k on cycle lane

The cycle lane opened in May, nine and a half months later than anticipated

Spiralling costs in a project to build a new cycle lane saw a council spend almost £900,000 to complete the works, new data revealed.

Essex County Council finished creating the 212m (695ft) route in Head Street, Colchester, in May - after almost nine months.

The scheme was completed nine-and-a-half weeks late and £142,978 over budget, at a cost of £878,912.

A spokesman for the local authority said it provided cyclists the protection they needed to travel "safely and confidently".

The project was paid for using government funding and was initially expected to cost £735,934, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by the BBC showed.

'Positive feedback'

Resurfacing works and improvements to bus stops and signal junctions also had to be completed to make way for the cycle lane.

Costs started to increase when previously unknown cellars were discovered, as well as when a pavement failed.

Delays then occurred when emergency works to repair a gas leak outside Yates had to be undertaken.

Money used to build the cycle lane could not have been used to fix potholes, the council said

"We’ve already seen a number of people making use of the cycle lane and have received positive feedback from the public," the council spokesman said.

"The cycle facility offers greater choices for travel, helping relieve the pinch-point on Head Street and boosting green transport options."

The FOI data showed that head counts undertaken by the council in October 2019 found there was an average of 136 cyclists per day using Head Street.

However, by April 2024 this had increased to 430.

“With all active travel funding ring-fenced by central government, the project also does not detract from highway maintenance and the funding could not have been used for fixing potholes," the spokesman added.