In a month following Brighton & Hove City Council’s chaotic implementation of Covid-19 Emergency Active Travel measures - the Green group have formally taken over political control of the Town Hall following the acrimonious collapse of the Labour administration. It’s important to note that a change of political leadership leaves the rest of the council apparatus intact. All the emergency works and the continued development of the Valley Gardens Scheme are delegated to council officers. To be clear, council officers have been entrusted to manage a £12m publicly funded project and spend it however they see fit with no further monitoring or involvement from elected councillors.
The most notable difference between the old and new political leadership is that while outgoing committee Chair, Cllr Anne Pissaridou often sounded like she didn’t understand her brief and appeared to care even less, in Cllr Pete West, we have a Committee Chair who is absolutely on the same page as council officers - and like them is not keen on dialogue or criticism of what he appears to see as his mission. Previously politically shrewd enough to let others implement important traffic order changes, Cllr West now will have to shoulder responsibility for past, present and future decisions. Back in 2012, together with former Cllr Ian Davey, he was one of the key proponents of narrowing North Street to the Clock Tower to a single bus priority lane - which has as a direct result become the third most polluted street in England. He has previously dismissed the Forum’s congestion and air pollution concerns as “vexatious”. This time, at least the rest of us can see what we’re dealing with.
So, first up, a reminder about the Council’s limited consultation upon ‘detailed design’ elements within the third part of the Valley Gardens scheme. The Forum’s advice is to take part - notwithstanding the harsh reality that Council Officers currently have no intention of changing the “core elements” of the design or swerving its overarching strategic objective. Roads, cycle lanes and paths “will not change” - this consultation is only about trees and lampposts. In the words of Executive Officer Economy, Environment &. Culture, Nick Hibberd, from a meeting with Forum Directors and planning officers at Hove Town Hall on December 4th 2018, the key line in that strategy is “to make driving in the centre of the city so difficult that fewer people do it”.
Of course, since that meeting our Covid world looks very different. Looking at the wider picture, we now have unprecedented public health and economic emergencies on top of global warming with the prospect of mass unemployment and a potential knock on in terms of poverty, homelessness, and mental health issues that may usher in 2021. Then there's Brexit... Local Authorities throughout the land are likely to face a dramatic drop in their own revenues with a large proportion staring down insolvency in the next 12 to 18 months. The chaos inflicted on Brighton & Hove by the spectacularly incompetent implementation of cycle lanes at the aquarium roundabout, narrowing the highway at London Road, the Old Shoreham Road and more have all contributed to a dramatic spike in congestion and pollution. Far from forcing traffic off our roads, these decisions have seen significant congestion increases on a variety of routes almost to the point of gridlock. Rather than mitigating the worst risks of Covid 19, the Council has knowingly, even willfully compounded them and endangered residents and visitors to the city.
The fiasco of choking traffic at the Aquarium roundabout where the A23 meets the A259 coast road over the last few weeks may actually turn out to be a positive lesson - in that this time, it was easily reversed. The remarkably sketchy business case used to justify the current VG3 plan already indicates a -£17m ‘dis-benefit’ over a 20-year forecast. Incredibly, there is no narrative examination of this enormous figure anywhere at all! The experience of the last few weeks reminds us that the current plans for VG3 make no provision for a reverse if the outcome of funneling all traffic into the east side of the Old Steine and replacing a roundabout with a T junction is comparable or even worse.
The visitor and student focused economy in our city faces multiple existential crises. Now more than ever, the Town Hall needs all the city’s extraordinary talent in the room - with broad based non-partisan groups like our Forum as partners. The decisions of Brighton & Hove’s Transport Partnership meetings - and the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure stakeholder sessions are dominated by representatives of the city’s extremely profitable and privately owned bus company and what Executive Office Nick Hibberd termed the city’s “powerful cycling lobby”. The majority of residents, traders and visitors to the city are also cyclists & pedestrians - but we don’t have representation at these hugely important meetings.
It goes without saying that cycling should be encouraged / urgently requires better infrastructure / is great fun / is good exercise - as long as you’re able bodied. However, cycling is not the answer for every journey or even possible for a significant part of the population. Some members of this lobby have displayed a staggering, almost messianic lack of empathy when they present every aspect of city life through the prism of the virtuous cyclist. To present their case as one side of a spurious culture war is at best counter-productive. There’s so much more we have in common if we take the time to work through the issues together.
So back to consultation. A Forum delegation has been invited to a meeting with council officers next week and we hope that this will prove to be a turning point and not simply lip service and a box ticking exercise.
The agenda provided follows below. The Forum has been encouraged to comment on this and to add our own suggestions. Taking this in good faith, I’d like to ask you to respond to this email with comments and suggested additions. I’ve highlighted in bold those items that I suggest should be priorities for discussion. Environmental impact management/monitoring including air quality should obviously be the top priority--
BHCC Draft Agenda with Valley Gardens Forum (note - BHCC draft & ordering)
Brief recap of work to date,
preliminary design plans as agreed (Feb 2019)
remaining programme
Introduce themes for discussion as noted below
Design Workshop/discussion
Active travel
Last mile freight
Soft landscaping & tree planting (and drainage)
Hard landscaping and public space
Parking
Crossing design
Cycle paths
Hostile vehicle mitigation
public art
Deco bus shelters
Street furniture
Lighting
Foot ways
Events infrastructure
Taxi ranks
Bus priority lanes infrastructure and information
Wayfinding
environmental impact management/monitoring including air quality
Princes Street and Steine Street
Safety and emergency
Enforcement
ECI (Early contractor involvement)
3. Set Actions (15 mins)
Some potential additional Agenda headings for your comments
Reimagining VG3 during and after Covid 19
Using delegated powers to conduct a full Environmental Impact Assessment
PM2.5 measuring tools and technology
VG3 in the context of a joined up transport strategy for the whole city
Role and composition of the Transport Advisory Group - VGF participation
The rationale and traffic modeling behind the additional bus lane - rerouting of cycle path and impact on current business plan
A planned date for shovels in the ground and the timeline to completion
Access and parking for the disabled and those with restricted mobility
Loading bays for traders
Coach access for overseas students
Finally, here is the news - and lots of it!
Brighton & Hove News 20 July 2020
Valley Gardens Phase 3 – the road to nowhere
Cllr Lee Wares - urges the new administration to take air quality seriously. To conduct the essential Environmental Impact Assessment and insist that residents and businesses “must be part of the conversation”.The Argus 4 August 2020
Brighton: Work on bike lane along A259 starts today
The cycle lane will cover a stretch of the A259 between the Brighton Palace Pier and Fourth Avenue in Hove. It will be used by cyclists travelling westbound and, when a second phase of work is completed later this year, it will extend to the western boundary of the city.
Brighton & Hove News 13 August 2020
Brighton seafront road to remain closed despite 10,000-signature petition
The closure of Madeira Drive has hit traders, leaving them unable to pay their rent, decimated parking revenues and marginalised disabled people and their families...
Brighton & Hove News 13 August 2020
More cycle lanes on the way, prompting Conservative calls for proper evaluation
Conservative Cllrs demand environmental impact on proposed additional road narrowing and cycle lanes - with concerns about traffic jams, displacement and rising air pollution.
.GOV 19 August 2020
Legally binding targets to help “build back greener”
Government recognition that pm2.5 is the air pollutant that has the most significant impact on our health. A new Environment Bill to set targets and new legal limits
The Argus 19 August 2020
Traffic in Brighton after A259 seafront cycle lane is introducedBuses are being forced to divert around heavy congestion in the city centre for the second day in a row. The gridlocked traffic in Brighton and Hove has been blamed on a new seafront cycle lane which takes up a lane of the A259. Drivers have reported long queues in neighbouring roads including Grand Parade, Gloucester Place and Edward Street,
The Argus 19 August 2020
Brighton city centre traffic grinds to a halt amid road changes
A new cycle lane on the A259 seafront road has prompted “mayhem”, drivers say, with vehicles at a near standstill during peak hours. Brighton and Hove Buses is being forced to divert services, the AA is warning drivers of delays on all approaches to the Aquarium Roundabout
Brighton & Hove News 21 August 2020
Old Shoreham Road cycle lanes must go – and go now
Labour Cllr Peter Atkinson distances himself from decisions endorsed by his local party leadership. “In the five years that I have been a councillor I have never received such an avalanche of complaints - many from residents who are cyclists themselves.”
Brighton & Hove News 22 August 2020
Greens and Labour are taking us for a ride on bike lanes – they need to own the chaos they created
Cllr Lee Wares rebutts the idea that the Council is powerlessly following central Government order in response to the backlash over new cycle lanes.Brighton & Hove News 22 August 2020
The challenge of cycle lane changes – driving acrimony and how we move forward
Peter Kyle is the first - and so far only one of the city’s three MPs to step up.
“Several times I walked, cycled and scooted past mile after mile of road traffic that was at a complete standstill. This isn’t good for our economy, our environment, or for us as people. It is unacceptable… So to the people making decisions about this I beg: there can be no stitch-ups when it comes to changing the use of our public spaces. Every decision needs to be transparent, no back-room deals”.
Brighton & Hove News 24 August 2020
Conservation group ‘horrified’ by wild planting plan for Brighton war memorial garden
Not a transport story - but indicative of the deep disconnect between council officers and the city they serve. Members of a conservation group said that they were “horrified” by a council plan to replace lawns in the Brighton war memorial garden with a bed of wild flowers. The criticisms came after a presentation to Brighton and Hove City Council’s Conservation Advisory Group by council official Oliver Spratley.
The Argus 24 August 2020
Environment chief on Brighton and Hove's new cycle lanes
Long-time resident, councillor and cyclist Pete West believes the schemes are a stepping stone to a more active, safer and environmentally-friendly city, which have shown early signs of success.
The Argus 25 August 2020
Disabled groups say they were not consulted on cycle lanes
Disabled groups are angry that they were not consulted on new cycle lane schemes – despite a bid made to the government claiming they were.The Argus 25 August 2020
Brighton and Hove cycle lanes are utter madness
...with the growing anger over the restrictions likely to lead to a wide-ranging alliance against the imposed cycle lanes it will make it harder in future to introduce positive cycle/bus measures to which needs to be added that all this stationary traffic greatly increases pollution. For all these reasons, we need a return to sanity.
Brighton & Hove News 26 August 2020
Brighton council performs u-turn on seafront cycle lane
Green Cllr Pete West: “Congestion on this stretch has had a knock-on for major bus routes and delays to bus journey times. That is unacceptable…” Removing access to the seafront for the mobility impaired and the devastating deterioration in air quality caused - but then eased by this U turn are apparently acceptable to Cllr West?
Possibility People - public statement 27 August 2020
Statement re cycle lanes and disabled people’s parking in Brighton and Hove "It is extremely disingenuous, in fact it’s not true, to say Possability People were consulted about the new cycle paths and parking measures currently subject of much discussion. Information and consultation are two very different things".
BBC News 27 August 2020
Brighton: Temporary cycle lane removed due to delaysBHCC always has ears for the private bus monopoly - A section of a temporary cycle lane in Brighton is to be removed after its introduction led to "unacceptable" delays for bus journeys.
The Argus 28 August 2020
Red impact warning for proposed Brighton and Hove cycle lane
The city council has asked the government for money to build a cycle lane which received a “red” rating in its own (already questionable) commissioned impact assessment.
The Argus 28 August 2020
Labour councillors rebel to criticise seafront cycle lane for taxi trade
The seafront cycle lane is “ideologically driven, poorly planned and totally unnecessary” say rebel councillors. In a scathing letter, the group blasted the lane for causing “mayhem” and said cabbies were suffering a “double whammy” following the easing of lockdown.
Brighton & Hove News 29 August 2020
Pollution is a health crisis as much as a climate one“While air quality in the city has improved in recent years, there is still much to be done, especially in the city centre”. The irony here is that no elected local politician has done more to exacerbate North Street's catastrophic air quality over the past decade than Cllr West himself.
The Argus 1 September 2020
Difficulties facing Blue Badge holders amid road layout changes
Blue badge holders have been reduced to tears over road layout changes, according to a newly formed disability action group. Badge (Brighton Access for Disabled Groups Everywhere) has blasted officials for changes to roads across Brighton and Hove which have been made “without consultation”. The group says many disabled bays have been removed and, in some cases, replaced by “lethal” alternatives for the city’s 13,500 blue badge holders.
The Argus 1 September 2020
Conservative transport spokesman hits out at Labour cycle lane rebels
“The cycle lanes that you talk about as not having any common sense, not being consulted on, having no compromise, being ideologically driven, being poorly planned and being totally unnecessary, were proposed by you, the Labour Party…. You voted unanimously for them with the support of the Green group.”