I live off Kett's Hill and use it almost every day, mostly by bike and often by car. I wish to register an objection to the proposed bus lane on four main grounds.

1. It will increase the danger for cyclists approaching the roundabout from Kett's Hill and intending to go towards Barrack Street as they will be in the nearside bus/cycle lane and in the path but largely out of the sightline of cars which will be turning left into Riverside Road from the new outer lane. This will add an unnecessary new danger to the junction. At the moment bicycles going onwards into Barrack Street only have to watch out for traffic already on the roundabout not a stream of cars turning left across their path. The car drivers wishing to turn left will be looking to the right in order to pick their moment to proceed and will be very likely to overlook cyclists legitimately on their inside. This will be particularly bad at rush hour when car drivers are naturally impatient to grab any gap in the traffic already on the roundabout. Their sudden acceleration to turn left will make it all the more likely that they will run down cyclists who will be effectively in their path with the proposed system. There will be a spate of accidents and possible fatalities.

This will NOT encourage more cycle use, one of the stated aims of Transforming Cities.

2. According to your own figures the tiny amount of time saved for only the buses and only at morning rush hour is not going to be an economic use of Transforming Cities monies. There will be perhaps at most 4 buses during this time of day so this whole expense is for a bus time saved of 80 seconds per bus. I support more bus use but I don't believe this tiny saving of time will encourage more people to switch. Would 80 seconds change your mode of transport?

3. It will add to the time spent queueing for cars coming into the city because there will be a reduction in lanes available to cars. This is likely to get much worse when the new housing developments near Rackheath are completed, which will funnel more car traffic down both Kett's Hill and Gurney Road. The effect of limiting cars to one lane in the approaches to the roundabout will inevitably lengthen the line of cars queuing and thus prolong the time when the line extends beyond Northampton Court where the proposed bus lane starts. It is therefore likely that the bus lane will in fact be self-defeating.

4. The local shops rely on the parking places and often more than 3 places are in use. Three places OUT OF SIGHT round the corner will not be an adequate replacement. It is unlikely that these small local shops will survive the loss of these parking places, so more people will be forced into their cars to shop further afield. This will not help to meet the traffic reduction aims of Transforming Cities.

I hope you will oppose these proposals.