A planter removed temporarily from Rottingdean High Street has caused a divided reaction in the community.
The planter was moved to allow repairs to a shop front which had been damaged by a bus earlier this year.
The shop front signage of PSG Financial Solutions is being repaired after a bus scraped past the store in May.
The planter had been put in place to slow traffic but proved to be controversial, with some residents saying that the roads were already too narrow and others saying that it made the street safer for pedestrians.
Others said that while it slowed the traffic, it added to congestion and created more pollution.
The council said that the planter would be returned once the scaffolding for works at the shop had been removed.
But its removal sparked debate in online resident communities, with calls for a thorough consultation about the future of the planter.
Catherine Tonge posted: “That planter hugely improved my disabled mum’s life, enabling her to cross the road safely from her home in Park Crescent.
“She’s dead now so no longer an issue for me but really saddened (though not surprised) that so many value ‘traffic flow’ over pedestrian safety.”
Clive Ward posted his reply to Independent councillor Bridget Fishleigh publicly, saying: “May I add that face to face consultations with the parish council are usually not well attended (under 50 persons) and do not properly represent the community.
“A more effective democratic consultation can include at no extra cost Rottingdean Chat online once all the appropriate evidence above is properly shared by the parish council.”
Judy Ratcliffe said: “The final straw for me was last week when I saw an ambulance with its lights flashing stuck behind it for several minutes.
“We watched in horror and it was clear that the oncoming cars simply had nowhere to go to pull out of its way short of reversing backwards onto the A259.”
Councillor Fishleigh, who represents Rottingdean Coastal ward, said in an email to residents: “I will ask officers to attend a public meeting (which I will arrange) so we can all look at the data and see whether the planter – and yellow box and no right turn from West Street – have achieved their narrow goals.”
Chris Grinsted stirred the pot, sharing a petition to reinstate the planter but later explained that he created it as a joke.
One commenter commiserated the loss of the planter by posting commemorative mugs for charity with a photo of the removed planter.
Another commenter joked, saying: “We only moved here because of the planter. Its aesthetic qualities were beyond compare. Iconic. We feel betrayed.”
The council said: “We have removed the Rottingdean High Street planter on a temporary basis to allow for scaffolding to be put up to repair a nearby building.
“There was a delay to the planter being removed. This was because the building contractor had failed to give us some extra information we needed.
“Once the contractor provided us with this information we were able to agree to the planter being removed.
“The planter will be put back once the repair work is finished.”
“Catherine Tonge posted: “That planter hugely improved my disabled mum’s life, enabling her to cross the road safely from her home in Park Crescent.””
Really? Did the zebra crossing that is ~25m north of the planter not help in that respect then?
Not only does the ‘planter’ speed traffic up as people try to avoid being caught in front of it, it is downright dangerous and even caused a car to go through a window. Has also caused congestion and pollution throughout the village. Get rid.
No it didn’t.
That crash was caused by the driver and was totally unrelated to the planter.
“We watched in horror and it was clear that the oncoming cars simply had nowhere to go to pull out of its way short of reversing backwards onto the A259.”
What do you do? Carry on, if the road is narrow, the fastest thing to do is to carry on. Traffic behind should (should) see and stay in a place to allow the Ambulance to make progress.
That plant pot has made my bus late by over 20 minutes on numerous occasions.
It really does contribute to negative air quality.
The planter wasn’t installed to slow traffic. It was intended to reduce pollution in the narrowest part of the High Street, but ended up shifting the pollution further back. On top of that this added obstruction on an already narrow road introduced new traffic conflict near the junction with Park Road and with buildings as evidenced by the damage to PSG building by the bus.It made northbound traffic hug the kerb making walking along the west side path even more hazardous than usual.This is a route used by children and families going to and from Our Lady of Lourdes School. It also created an almost permanent traffic jam both sides of the zebra crossing making the crossing unsafe to use.The yellow box does the required job.
If there is an “almost permanent traffic jam” both sides of the zebra crossing then that traffic is, by definition, mostly stopped so how is the zebra crossing unsafe to use?
Sunday morning, couldn’t get up Rottingdean High street from the coast road, as 2 selfish sods parked on the yellow box.
Once they moved then couldn’t get past the junction where the planter was, as an HGV was stationary directly opposite the scaffolding.
If the painted box junction and give way at the planter were used properly I’d have been up and out of the High Street in a couple of minutes. Instead I created a queue of stationary traffic behind me and it took over 10 minutes to get through.
Put the planter back and put a camera on the yellow box. It would pay for itself in a week.