Questions have been raised about whether the “trial” closure of roads along the “cycle superhighway” in Hackney are in fact permanent.

The controversial scheme began at the start of last week in De Beauvoir and the Wordsworth Road area, having caused anger and division among neighbours for more than a year.

The decision to plough ahead was announced by Transport for London (TfL) in August following a consultation supported or “partially supported” by just 49 per cent of people.

Hackney Council said it would review feedback after six months of the 18-month trial due to the level of concern raised.

But the sight of concrete being dug up in the affected roads has led some people to believe any concerns they raise may fall on deaf ears.

Rachel Afanasiev took to Twitter to quiz the town hall.

She said: “Those ‘temporary’, ‘trial’, ‘easy to remove/rearrange’ traffic-reducing measures for Middleton Road look expensively permanent!”

She was referring to consultation documents which said the measures would be “flexible”.

She added: “I’m sorry Hackney Council but this has distinct whiff of permanence.”

The town hall responded to her by saying engineers had given their assurance the methods could be reversed after six months if needed.

A spokesman said: “We’ve gone for something more robust to make sure HGVs don’t drive through, but the engineer assures me it’s easily removable.”

People can share their thoughts with the council before March 17 by emailing info@hackney.gov.uk with the subject line ‘CS1 Wordsworth Rd Closures’