When Norwich City Council set its sights on the multimillion-pound Push the Pedalways programme, its vision was to make the area a premier cycle destination.

Eastern Daily Press: Artist's impression of how The Avenues was meant to look once the Push The Pedalways changes were brought in.Artist's impression of how The Avenues was meant to look once the Push The Pedalways changes were brought in. (Image: Norwich City Council)

Yet as work began, it became clear that some projects would have to be put on hold as others almost tripled in price.

At a Norwich Highways Agency committee meeting yesterday, councillors were told four out of the 23 schemes would need to be deferred to ensure key parts of the pink pedalway can be built.

The £5.9m Push the Pedalways scheme, which aims to improve an eight-mile Norwich cycle route from the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and the UEA to Heartsease and Broadland, was to make Norwich a leading cycling city.

But some have said the scheme 'has fallen short of the promised vision' and questioned if it should be scaled back to achieve realistic aims.

Norfolk county councillor Tony Adams has called for a review of the deferred projects to map out how many could actually be completed in the future.

He said: 'Shouldn't the officers do a review of all those deferred projects and see if there is any realistic hope of them really moving forward? They are just raising false expectations by saying they are deferred.'

One of the projects put on ice was the £495,000 safety scheme on Earlham Road which is dependent on further government funding.

The project which is most over budget is at Tombland, where work to replace the roundabout outside the Maids Head Hotel with a junction is expected to last until October and will cost £974,000, rather than the £360,000 planned for.

The scheme, which secured £3.7m of funding from the Department for Transport, also includes new paths and cycleways, 20mph zones and junction changes.

While the council says it will make it a high-quality, safe route that can be ridden confidently by everyone, some of the proposals have been controversial.

As reported earlier this week, the £785,000 project at The Avenues will no longer include dedicated lanes for bicycles, after council officers realised trouble with tree roots would make the project too expensive.

Bert Bremner, cabinet member for environment and sustainable development at the city council, denied the project is running into problems. He said: 'The whole of the project is really working. It's making really positive changes to the area, positive changes for everyone. People can be negative, but they are not looking at the big picture. It's making real improvements to the city for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.'

But Denise Carlo, a Green Party city councillor, said: 'Unfortunately, Norwich City Council over-hyped the pink pedalways and the project has fallen short of the promised vision, to the disappointment of cyclists and some residents.'