Labour Councillor for East Brighton, Cllr Nancy Platts, has said she is “disappointed” that a cycling event went ahead at East Brighton Park over the weekend despite wet weather conditions, that has left churned grass and muddy paths in its wake.

Paths in East Brighton Park are in need of repair after over 300 cyclists took park in Brighton Mitre Cycling Club’s charity cyclocross event on Sunday.

Brighton & Hove City Council chose not to call off the event, in spite of heavy rains over the previous week.

Local ward Councillor Nancy Platts, who also helps organise the weekly East Brighton parkrun event, said:

“It’s council land, so my understanding is that normally if the council thought it was going to be dangerous or that it was going to cause damage they could say it can’t go ahead because the weather is too bad. They could have done that.

“Perhaps the organisers themselves could have looked at the ground and said ‘We’re going to call it off.’

“During the parkrun event we reverse the course during winter so we don’t use the areas where it gets really muddy so people don’t fall over.

“The risk is now that it’s already such a quagmire that it starts to get dangerous because too many people will slip.

“I’ve had loads of people write to me because they normally walk their dog, kids use the park and we’ve got fitness groups who regularly use the park and massive areas of it now are just mud.

“I just don’t think it’s acceptable to turn the park into that mud bath and I think a lot of people are really shocked by it.”

The cycling club who organised the event have said they will be willing to help pay for the cost of the repairs, and the council has apologised to park users.

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For more information, find Sarah Booker-Lewis’ piece in Brighton & Hove News here.

Image: Brighton & Hove News