Mayor of Worcester Mike Layland has launched a scathing attack on the creation of a controversial £4 million bus lane in Worcester.

He said the Newtown Road bus lane has been called “the most pointless exercise that I have ever had the misfortune to witness”.

The bus lane runs through Coun Layland’s Nunnery ward and he said Worcestershire County Council had not listened to his constituents’ concerns and called the whole consultation on the scheme “nothing more than a sham”.

In an explosive letter to traffic management engineer Julian Tipton Coun Layland said: Worcestershire County Council had become “dictatorial”; The scheme is turning out to be nothing like that initially described to residents; Cutting down trees to accommodate part of the bus lane amounted to vandalism; The new traffic lights are so big and bright they are “more at home in a Birmingham suburb than they are in Worcester”; A consultation on traffic regulation orders has not been conducted properly.

As a result of all that Coun Layland, who was criticising the scheme in his role has ward councillor, said he felt the county council had “damaged democracy and the democratic process”.

“I fully understand that at times councillors have to do what they think is in the best interests of the community as a whole,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, this scheme is not one of those that is in the best interests of anyone.

“It is unworkable, totally pointless and I am at a loss as to why it was ever considered, designed and thought feasible.”

The veteran councillor has been active in local politics for 40 years.

Worcestershire County Council has argued in the past that the bus lane will improve public transport reliability and deliver quicker journey times, especially to and from Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

However, we previously reported in your Worcester News how residents living along the Ronkswood road were horrified when they watched several mature oak trees cut down in June as they did not realise how much greenery they were losing to make way for the bus lane. In a statement a Worcestershire County Council spokesman said: “The scheme as a whole was consulted on with residents, stakeholders and bus users in 2008 which showed a majority of respondents in favour of the scheme.”