Turning Point has reduced traffic but does not offer cyclists clearly marked routes, according to Hugh McClintock, chairman of cycling group Pedals.

"Cyclists needs should have been considered much more systematically right from the start," he said.

The city council insists the �11m scheme, which includes a new one-way system in the city centre, provides better access for those on bikes.

Less traffic

When it was launched in the summer of 2005, the Turning Point scheme aimed to create a city centre largely free of traffic.

The council said it was the biggest road improvement scheme it had ever undertaken.

But Mr McClintock said: "Because of the widening of pavements and all the buses lanes, it has created problems despite the general reduction in traffic.

"It is difficult to travel across the city centre to the station and the scheme doesn't make that any easier.

"They have added advance-stop lines at lights that help cyclists - and that is a good move."

The city's major transport project manager Steve Hunt said: "Cyclists are not excluded from the city centre - and the Turning Point is their gateway to the city.