In his condemnation of last weekend's chalked pop-up cycle lane in Weymouth, Cllr Ray Bryan described it as an irresponsible publicity stunt, vandalism, and extremely dangerous. Interestingly Cllr Bryan wears two hats for Dorset Council, one as Portfolio holder for Highways, Travel & the Environment, and the other as chair of the Climate & Ecological Emergency Executive Advisory Panel (C&EE EAP). The haste with which the Highways dept acted to remove the pop-up cycle lane contrasts starkly and tellingly with the snail like progress of the C&EE EAP. It is now over a year since the climate emergency was declared by DC, but there is still no action plan in place. Meanwhile other Councils have forged ahead and started taking action, leaving Dorset trailing behind. There are clearly some councillors who do not yet either believe or understand the urgency of the situation, but the science is clear and the evidence is overwhelming. We are rapidly running out of time, and the longer we wait to take action the more difficult the decisions will become, and the more costly the solutions will be. If we fail to take the necessary action we will condemn our children to a turbulent world that is far beyond anything human civilisation has ever experienced. So, which is the more irresponsible and dangerous - chalking a pop-up cycle lane, or failing to take the swift action needed to address the climate & ecological emergency?

Ken Huggins

Hazelbury Bryan