A popular shopping street will close to traffic for just three days a week as councillors looked for a compromise between traders and the needs of people with disabilities.
The row over Gardner Street, Brighton, has rumbled on for the past three years since it was closed to all traffic except bicycles in July 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.
The closure left a woman with disabilities imprisoned in her home, unable to attend vital hospital and other medical appointments.
Her situation was made worse at the start of this year after councillors voted to close the street to all traffic except cyclists from 11am to 5pm every day.
They also voted to remove the two disabled parking bays outside her home, with the council saying that extra bays had been created in a neighbouring road.
Ann Ingle, who has lived in Gardner Street for more than 15 years, is unable to walk or use a wheelchair because of her complex and chronic health conditions.
She relied on a patient transport ambulance outside her front door but the road closure made it impossible for her to come and go from her own home.
One disability charity said that she was not the only disabled resident in the road to be affected by the closure – and many blue badge holders were now unable to shop there.
But traders have been lobbying for Gardner Street to stay closed to traffic so that they can put tables and chairs out in the road as well as displays of goods.
Even today (Tuesday 3 October) at Hove Town Hall, one councillor spelt out his concerns that this would hinder access for ambulances and other emergency vehicles.
Business owners also told the council that trade had fallen since the latest changes came in earlier this year, criticising the council for insisting on enough space for cyclists and mobility scooters.
But they appear to have underestimated how many customers can no longer reach their shops.
Two charities – Possability People and BADGE – previously said that 13,500 people in Brighton and Hove alone relied on vehicles or wheelchairs as mobility aids.
And a number of disabled people and their carers have spoken about an unofficial boycott of Gardner Street businesses because of perceptions about their attitude towards people with disabilities.
In the end today, eight members of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Transport and Sustainability Committee – all Labour – voted for the new arrangements.
As a result, Gardner Street will close to traffic from 11am to 7pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and on bank holidays.
Green councillor Steve Davis and Conservative councillor Samer Bagaeen voted against the change.
As a result, traders will be allowed to put tables and chairs in the road again although they many want a full pedestrianisation of the street.
One business owner, Ian Baldry, director of I’s Pies Limited, which operates as the Cornish Pasty Shop, addressed councillors at Hove Town Hall today.
He was concerned that councillors would not listen to all the responses in support of a seven-day closure to traffic.
He feared that councillors were ignoring the 402 responses to a petition set up by traders which accounted for the bulk of the 549 comments on the council’s latest consultation.
Mr Baldry said: “The repercussion of this decision will be felt by all residents of Brighton and Hove and beyond.
“The needs of all residents including the disabled and the elderly as well as the complex needs of the businesses in the North Laine should be considered.”
Council lawyer Natasha Watson, the committee’s legal adviser, said that councillors would take all the responses into account and decide how much weight to give each of them.
Of the other 147 comments, 91 supported reducing the number of days on which the road was closed and 54 objected.
Labour councillor Trevor Muten, who chairs the council’s Transport and Sustainability Committee, and his fellow Labour councillor Leslie Pumm, who leads on equalities, met traders, residents and disability action groups to try to resolve the issues to suit all sides.
Councillor Pumm said this evening: “We had many consultations, stakeholder meetings, brainstorming sessions and we were taking every angle and perspective and challenging all the consequences – and this is what we came up with.
“This is not the end of the conversation. Brighton and Hove is constantly developing and we hope this is not the end of developing the North Laine but this is a workable compromise for the next 10 years.”
Councillor Davis criticised Labour for disbanding the active travel forum, saying that the council should listen to stakeholder groups.
He said that Labour had previously supported the continued closure of Gardner Street, adding: “I just feel using disability as a political football is the wrong approach.”
Councillor Bagaeen said: “We continue to look at Gardner Street in isolation. We recently agreed a TRO (traffic regulation order) to close Sydney Street.
“We’re not looking at that part of the North Laine in totality – and the impact will have a knock-on effect.”
Brighton and Hove City Council first closed Gardner Street to all traffic except cycles seven days a week during the covid pandemic in July 2020 as a temporary measure.
In September 2021, the closure reverted to weekends and bank holidays only.
The current closure seven days a week came into force in January this year with the disabled parking bays being removed and extra bays added in neighbouring Regent Street.
Awful decision. This council is making the wrong call on everything it does and should be ashamed of what it’s doing to our city
Au contraire. It’s the Greens who should be ashamed of what they’ve done to Brighton, and how they treated residents and tried to block democratic process.
PS – love the ‘our city’ trope!
It’s the wrong call because it traps the disabled resident in their home three days a week.
That said it’s an excellent example of how good for local business pedestrianisation is.
More to be done but not on this road.
When they were previously trapped all week? Green logic!
She’ll be referring to a previous article on this matter.
The right decision, if not perfect. Traders get longer times at the weekend and the resident gets to use 4 days of the week to see too her needs, ( as well as access for all other blue badge users). It’s clear to see as well not all traders were happy with the closure. Shows Labour are listening.
Very good decision indeed.
Fantastic! Green Cllr Davis signed this off, ignoring the Council’s own advice on disability rights .
And a big two finger salute in the face of ex Green fruitcake cllrs Hills and Lloyd , who should stfu and move away from Brighton.
This should never have been closed in the first place. At least the Labour Party we have now locally is not the spineless and frankly disingenuous one we had under Platts and Wilkinson who rolled over on this decision previously. This seems a fair compromise.
A sad compromise all round. The resident is still trapped for three days, the direction of travel (sic) for pedestrianisation of the inner city is reversing slowly, and traders cannot see that allowing them onto the street doesn’t mean that they take up every inch of road and path.
Hopefully this is only a short term reversal pending a full redesign and development of the roadways and paths.
…which hopefully will include VG3 getting canned
VG3 getting finished in its entirely*
A fair compromise all round.👍 specially as the busiest time for trades is the weekend.
Terry, over the summer period Brighton is a 7 day a week city. If you go out in that area to the pubs, cafes, and restaurants during summer they are heaving no matter what day if the week it is.
This “compromise” will do over winter, but a proper town planner needs to look at the street. A better solution in my opinion would be to redevelop the street to remove the kerbs to allow equal access to both sides of the street; limit traders’ outdoor space so that there is a safe router for vehicles through, but only allow authorised vehicles. Disabled residents would be authorised for pickup and put down.
Good result , the shameful previous decision by the ex Green council that imprisoned this poor lady and removed the disabled parking bay was made despite official advice to the contrary.
A step in the right direction. I’ve voted Green my entire adult life but never again. I’ve been appalled by their deeply ableist attitudes over the past few years. Accessibility should never be overlooked. I’m currently politically homeless, but I’ll be doing my research come the next set of elections and listening very carefully to what anyone who wants my vote has to say about matters like these. It’s time to stop pretending disabled people don’t exist. We exist!
Maybe Gardner Street isn’t the best place for a disabled person to live. Pedestrianized streets make a real difference and more pleasant. We need to let the North Laine, and its businesses, prosper: it’s part of what makes BTown so special.
Where should they live in Ghetto’s? Your comment smacks of the worst type of abelism and total lack of empathy. Anyone could become disabled at anytime in their life – including you. Should you then move because it doesn’t work for your neighbours?
Attacking someone purely because you can’t come up with a decent retort isn’t good logic. Unfortunately, the easy solution to this would have been providing this lady with a more accessible home. It’s nothing new, we do it all the time.
Really and what if the resident in question does not want to move? They lived there a decade prior to the closure so this was an issue made by a poor council decision (ignoring its very own EIA). Think about what you are saying? Some roads should be non inclusive – those with disabilities not welcome? We are, (as a city), about to adopt the accesible City strategy – which will put a stop to this practice. Your comment too is deeply offensive and if you lived with or have lived experienced with severe disability you would not have written this.
Benjamin and Hanover Terrace, rehousing is fine if that’s what the woman in question wants, or if her need requires it. Disability already strips away too many freedoms, dignities and choices without forcing someone out of her familiar home too. Your able-ist rhetoric is more suited to Nazi Germany or Communist Russia or China than to a free Western society.
Regardless of the individual in question, there is the general problem. Look at the main photo at the top. My mother suffered a stroke that has left her in need of a wheelchair for short outings. She cannot sit in any chair comfortably for long. If she had had her stroke in Gardner Street, the ambulance would not have been able to reach her and she may very well not have survived.
Fortunately, her home has been adapted. She has not been forced out by able-ist dogma. We tried visiting Gardner Street a few months ago. It was not a wheelchair-friendly environment. I have since come across comments online from some of the traders there. It showed no sympathy for those with mobility problems or for those with poor or no eyesight.
As a result of their hostile attitude towards those with disabilities, I have not been back to Gardner Street since, nor has anyone in my family. My daughter actively discourages any of her friends from going there and has explained to them very clearly why. I have since learnt that others who have friends or relatives with disabilities also avoid these unpleasant traders.
Well said Sharon. Up until the age of 31 I had little experience with disability, (except a sister who had progressive occular fibrosis but had full mobility and cognitive skills). We then had a son Aidan who has an incredibly rare genetice condition giving him the most severe disabilities (with absolutely no indication during pregnancy). We lived in a flat in a busy Hove Street, and luckly were able to adabpt it and continue living there and were a popular part of the community – but boy you have to fight for everything. Up until then I took for granted the freedoms that my mobility afforded me and others in my family. Under the previous administration we saw the gradual creep of ignorance when it came to those with disabilities, (and it looks like these are attitudes of some Brightonians who say don’t live there or relocate them). This solution is not perfect but gives the resident and ALL blue badge users better access as well as longer hours for the traders at busier weekends. Disability is not my ‘political football’ it’s my life and it is never truer that we should judge a society by how they treat the most vulnerable within it.
Strawmanning and ad hominem does nothing to support an intelligent discussion, Sharon. You think that Nazi Germany is comparable?
I completely disagree, from experience, of your assessment of accessible for an ambulance attendance on a professional and personal level. Don’t talk for a service you don’t work in.
I’m glad you got your challenges sorted, and I’m sorry it took so long to do so. Disabilities are all unique to the individual, and that makes it difficult because every plan, adaptation, and solution, also has to be unique to support effectively.
There is nothing wrong with suggesting moving, like others have said, if the person would find this amicable, and if their needs could be better supported in a more accessible environment.
If not, well, there needs to be a compromise.
Benjamin seeing as the resident organised the opposition against this closure, (mobilising several disability action groups), it is safe to say she doesn’t want to move and likes living in the area. Yes a compromise was needed and should be welcomened . I usually find your comments well reasoned but you really seem to have ‘mis read’ the room here.
Sharon, if you think that an ambulance with lights on wouldn’t be able to get up the street, that people wouldn’t voluntarily move themselves and their chairs and tables for an emergency vehicle, that speaks very poorly of you and what you think of your fellow Brightonians.
Next stop – ethnic cleansing!
Appalling comment. Did you not read that she has lived there for 15 years. So you want her turned out of her home?
One of the premises that wanted full pedestrianisation was the Gardener Cafe – see photo with Zedify bike parked in Disabled place! Since the TRO, this has closed – ironically trade wasn’t boosted that much
Rob – Benjamin knows everything. You can’t argue with him, he is omniscient