A HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED decision on the layout of a controversial segregated cycleway through Edinburgh has been put on hold.

Members of Edinburgh City Council's Transport Committee today [Tues] voted in favour of building the proposed East-West cycle corridor, but postponed a final decision on the most contentious section of the route - through Roseburn in the west end - after concluding that there was a "strong division of opinion" on how it should be designed.

Councillors had been expected to choose between two layouts, known as Option A and Option B, but have instead voted by a majority of 13 to two to create a cross-party stakeholders' group which will act as a "sounding board" for planners.

It will bring together all sides including cycling and environmental campaigners, traders, community associations, local councillors, and representatives of Lothian buses and Central taxis.

Lesley Hinds, convener of the Transport Committee, said she hoped that the group would be able to negotiate "a solution that tackles all of the issues", stressing that the council remained "100 per cent committed" to delivering the cycleway.

She said: "Given the strength of feeling out there about certain aspects of the plans, there's clearly still work to be done before the final route design is agreed.

"This new stakeholder group will allow all interested parties to get round the table and thrash out the remaining issues, listening to each other's points of view and - hopefully - arriving at a conclusion which the majority are happy with so that the final route design can be agreed."

Friends of the Earth Scotland air pollution campaigner Emilia Hanna said she was disappointed by the delay.

She added: "There are question marks now on when a final decision will be taken and concerns that the scheme could be bogged down in analysis paralysis."

The move followed a hearing in which councillors were told the debate over the Roseburn section of the cycleway had become "too polarised".

The so-called "cycle superhighway" is the most ambitious cycling project ever planned for the capital and would ultimately enable cyclists to journey direct from Roseburn in the west end to Leith Walk in the east on a route largely protected from traffic.

However, plans to reduce a section of the A8 from four lanes to two along Roseburn Terrace to accommodate the cycleway caused an outcry among traders and local residents who said the loss of parking and loading bay spaces would threaten businesses while also creating a traffic bottleneck that would exacerbate pollution and congestion.

Lothian Buses and the emergency services have also expressed concerns over how the cycleway would impact on traffic movement in the area.

As a result, the council put forward an alternative 'Option B' which would re-route the cycleway via Roseburn Place and Roseburn Street.

However, cycling campaigners argued that a less direct route would be a turn off for experienced cyclists and that Option B increased the risk of collisions with pedestrians and other road users because cyclists would have to navigate three road crossings instead of one in Option A.

Henry Whaley, of the Roseburn Cycle Route group, said: "Option A is the logical route. It's the most direct route. The more round the houses you make it the more offputting it is.

"Option B means multiple crossings. That makes it slower and more difficult. Experienced cyclists will ignore it and that's when you'll have drivers saying 'you've wasted money on cyclists again'."

Peter Gregson, a Roseburn resident and "passionate cyclist" who has spearheaded the campaign against a cycleway on Roseburn Terrace, said traffic studies indicated that 90 buses, 100 taxis, 100 cars, 40 lorries, and 45 cyclists an hour used the street at peak times.

He said: "For the benefit of that number of cyclists, a lot of people are going to be held up in congestion, including a lot of bus users."