Two years ago City of York Council engaged in a public consultation on the future development of the Castle Gateway area. A number of the interested public, myself included, spent a lot of time discussing the development of Piccadilly.

This is a wide road (14 metres) and vehicles often exceed the 30 mph limit, making it precarious to cycle along. We considered cycle lanes: with a 14 metre width it would be quite feasible to have separate pedestrian and cycle lanes both sides of a central traffic lane.

We also heard that in Holland and Denmark it is considered safe to mix bicycles with vehicles if the latter are slowed to 15mph. So we came up with an alternative idea of having a meandering road with no dedicated cycle lanes.

Both ideas were rejected by the city’s planning department. The only reason given is that the road is too narrow either to be meandering or to have dedicated cycling lanes.

Now construction is under way we find the real reason: some four metres of the road has been taken over by the construction of the hotel Hampton by Hilton - and now Piccadilly is too narrow to safely accommodate cyclists.

This clearly needed planning permission. Consultation with the public was obviously just lip service. And so much for the claimed green credentials of the present Lib-Dem/Green party led Council which purports to support and encourage cycling but where cycling comes very much second best.

Peter Mills, Fishergate,York