‘No Entry’ signs on Queens Road were covered up by workmen on Friday, just hours after OTS News revealed that the legal orders enabling the town centre cycle lanes had expired.
It was confirmed on Friday that the traffic orders enabling the cycle lanes had expired over four months ago.
However, the Council also warned that measures introduced before the lane installations, such as disabled bays and double yellow lines, remain in full effect.
Queens Road is likely to close again to motorists in the coming weeks. Sefton Council officers have recommended that a new 12-month Temporary Traffic Regulation Order is created to allow relevant monitoring and assessment to decide whether the lanes will be made permanent.
The Cabinet member responsible for this decision, Councillor John Fairclough, will is due to make a decision this Thursday, 30 June, but this decision will be subject to scrutiny from councillors and will not be immediately implemented.
A decision on whether the town centre cycle lanes should be made permanent was supposed to be made within 6 months of installation, approximately April 2021.
Officers said that the delay was caused for several reasons, including a national shortage of materials that meant the cycle lanes were not installed as envisaged until over a year later, the original consultation taking longer than expected, and a lack of available guidance from central government on how the schemes should be assessed.
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