Councillors are being asked to agree two “red routes” on main roads in Brighton next week although hundreds of people have signed a petition objecting to one of the schemes.
If approved, the red routes would make it illegal for traffic to stop on a stretch of the A23 London Road and Preston Road and on the A270 Lewes Road.
Red routes were first introduced to keep traffic flowing to reduce the pollution from stop-start journeys by making it illegal to stop, even for loading and unloading.
Brighton and Hove City Council said that its red routes were intended to tackle anti-social parking and to keep traffic moving, with the changes budgeted to bring in £200,000 a year in fines.
A report to councillors also said: “Enforcement incomes for red routes have already been built into parking services budgets.”
The council’s Transport and Sustainability Committee is expected to approve a draft “experimental traffic regulation order” which would be advertised for seven days.
Work can then start on putting in place the restrictions which are expected to start on Monday 1 April next year.
The council carried out a public consultation from Monday 24 July to Sunday 17 September.
In the A23 area, leaflets went out to 1,475 properties, prompting 299 responses. Of these, 141 were “supportive” and 66 were “unsupportive”.
In the Lewes Road area, leaflets went to 760 properties, generating 321 responses. Of these, 192 were “supportive” and 66 were “unsupportive”.
Twenty people shared their concerns about the effect on businesses.
And 357 people signed a petition objecting the London Road proposal. It said: “The beauty of London Road / Preston Road is that we still have a few corner shops that rely mainly on daily van sales deliveries at different times.
“They will be affected, amid concerns from shopkeepers, and we are worried that these small businesses, who are already struggling with high utility costs and the cost of living, will disappear from our neighbourhood.”
Council officials have met London Road traders to discuss concerns about loading. If there is a shortfall in loading bays, the council said, then these would be increased as and when practical.
The A270 Lewes Road red route would run between Elm Grove and the Vogue Gyratory. The A23 red route would run between Cheapside and South Road.
The new cycle lane being created between Argyle Road and Stanford Avenue is expected to delay the implementation of the A23 red route.
The cost of setting up the red routes has been omitted from the report to councillors. The report said that the work would be funded from a “bus service improvement plan” grant and the council’s Carbon Neutral Fund.
The scheme is expected to raise an extra £200,000 a year from fines, through four new cameras, in addition to the dozens that already monitor bus lanes.
When the council increased the number of bus lane and “bus gate” cameras from 24 to 38 over two years, the number of penalty charge notices – or fines – issued to drivers rose from 10,000 a year to 50,000.
The council’s Transport and Sustainability Committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 4pm on Tuesday (5 December). The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
Let’s get this straight.
Public servants planning to act against the wishes of their own electorate and waste precious public money to do so?
Despicable and unconscionable.
Plus at no point on the Labour manifesto did it mention ‘Red Routes’ so Labour has been voted in under false pretences.
The consultation says otherwise. The red routes have to be implemented on Lewes road due to 4 or 5 traders at each end of that stretch who think it’s their god given right to park on double yellows, sometimes on the pavement from 8am-6pm every day of the week. Wardens come out and they swiftly jump in their cars, drive around for 10 mins and then park back up. These lizards cause nothing but traffic backlog and make the cycle lanes unusable as well as creating difficulty for people in wheelchairs using the pavement. It’s basically anti social parking and it’s massively welcomed. If someone needs to make a delivery, there are more than enough delivery bays. This is for once a common sense policy towards traffic and is actually pro car as it will bring down congestion.
The electorate wants the city to turn into even more of a car park?
Not true that they are going against the wishes of the electorate. The official consultation of locals shows more than double were supportive of the changes.
Mr Walker
Where do you live???
We In London Road have collected signatures of over 500 residents and traders objecting to the red route as it will affect quite a few corner shops in the area who rely massively on daily van sales deliveries..
Instead of the council employing more traffic wardens to tackle the antisocial parking they chose the easy option of punishing business and raising more money from automatic fines.
Although they managed to employ enforcement officers 24/7 to chase people around fining them for littering.
I live just off London Road and walk past your shop every day, I’ll wave in tomorrow. That being said, your “collected signatures” are not the official consultation.
Why should my council taxes pay to tackle antisocial parking? Why are you blaming the council, when it is the antisocial drivers that clog up the routes? When you see them parking there, do you run outside and tell them to stop?
Your deliveries can still be made, there are designated unloading bays.
I live near London road too. Not shopping at ‘smoke mart’ any more. Peddle your vapes elsewhere
There’s a Bentley parked outside your shop now, on the double-yellows with accents. Who does that belong to, the barber’s next door? Why not pop in and ask them to move it, it’s parked there illegally.
I am glad i gave up my upholstery business 2 years ago,poor traders do not stand a chance.well done brighton council.
It would be interesting to hear your views on other such none-manifesto items, perhaps starting with the Thatcher anti union laws and progressing to crashing the economy twice, and that’s not including hard Brexit, vip lanes for covid money, lockdowns versus party gate – quite a long list. In that context the idea red routes are despicable is just maybe a bit over the top.
Let’s get this straight. Not everyone has to agree to what a council proposes to do. Also, councils do not have to only do what’s in their manifesto
More stealth taxes from Labour
Only an entitled motorist would, with no sense of irony, describe a punishment for breaking the law as a tax on them.
It’s time we started routinely towing illegally parked cars causing an obstruction. Fines aren’t enough of a deterrent.
‘Entitled’? We pay vast amounts of money to both government and the council for the ‘privilege’ of owning a vehicle to conduct our daily lives and businesses. These are OUR roads. You would appear to be the ‘entitled’ bubble-dweller with no concept of how life works and how everything in your home has been delivered or sold to you via motorised transport at some point.
You don’t pay to break the law, what a weird thing to say.
Red Routes are not the law. They are just an income grab by this Labour Council at the expense of the local economy. It even says it’s all about the revenue in the article.
Barry, They are not your roads as you don’t own them, the council does. So if people can’t grasp double yellow lines are not for parking on which causes gridlock on London road and Lewes road then in the interest of the other 99% of drivers who don’t feel so selfish about parking wherever they like because they can’t be bothered to park properly, action has to be taken, and clearly the best action here is to bang out automatic fines to these 1% incompetent drivers.
As for businesses, use the loading bays… Hopefully they will be camera’d up too, so that only delivery drivers can use them as opposed to the shop owners using them as their personal drive ways. As an ex delivery driver this was always an issue.
Oswald,
The council do not ‘own’ the roads. The clue to ownerships is in the wording ‘PUBLIC HIGHWAYS’, they belong to everyone, the council are carers.
Are you actually saying that? The highest tax burden since 1950’s including huge stealth taxes- freezing tax bands.
All it takes in one vehicle blocking one lane on Lewes Road northbound near Melbourne Street to cause gridlock traffic as only half the amount can pass through the junction. Or do you prefer having emissions and journey times increased by selfish parking?
No more shops on the Lewes Rd then. Labour just as business unfriendly and ableist as the greens😳😳
Interesting how motorists only champion the rights of the disabled when the issue is parking. It’s like those motorists who are very concerned about emissions but only when opposing speed humps.
The greens are hugely ableist, with only those fit enough to walk or cycle being welcome. Remember, The Green Party’s origins lie with the document ‘Blue Print for Survival’; signatory (amongst others) Julian Huxley, eugenicist (selective human breeding), member of the British Eugenics Society, Fellow of the Royal Society. [1]
From the council’s consultation document
https://consultations.brighton-hove.gov.uk/parking/lewes-road-red-route/supporting_documents/FInal%20Red%20route%20Lewes%20consultation.pdf
Can Blue Badge holders stop on a Red Route?
Vehicles displaying a Blue Badge will be permitted to stop on the Red Route for a short time in order to pick up or drop off disabled passengers. However, they are not permitted to park on double red lines and will only be able to park in designated parking bays or disabled parking bays.
So not very ableist at all.
I don’t think anything will change for the Lewes road shops as those loading bays (aka the cycle lane) were permanently filled with the same few parked cars anyway.
Maybe the changes won’t affect Lewes Road too much, but I should imagine there will be an impact for London Road.
£200,000 a year in fines. That is what it is really all about.
Yes. It’s all about the revenue and driving businesses to the wall.
It doesn’t seem to occur to our caring and public-spirited council that once they’ve milked us all dry, there won’t be any further revenue.
Or money-spending visitors and shoppers to our city.
Speaking of red routes, I think Bristol Rise leading up to A&E at RSCH should be one in line with every other hospital.
Benjamin, On the whole, I usually find your comments interesting and informative. However, I know we are going to differ on this, as you’ve already stated your views on this in another post. Re: Red Routes for RSCH, particularly drop-off and pick-up points for taxis to Millenium Wing and The Kidney Unit. I can only speak for my own personal experience, and without going into reams, I believe this did not work for us at all.
Regarding the red routes, I feel that if it has been risk assessed, then not very well My risk assessing is purely what I regard as common sense. However, as you encourage people not to sit on the fence, and do something, I have. Whether anything comes of it, I certainly hope so. At least a review.
Absolutely respect differing points of view, especially when they are well articulated.
Drop offs are likely to be changed when UTC moves to the north service road as part of expanding A&E, and this will likely have a knock on effect regarding taxis too, hopefully a positive one!
I think the part that most vexes me is vehicles stopping and waiting outside the junction of NSR and A&E, and then along Bowring Way. It creates blind spots and also disrupts traffic flow. I would like to think common sense would be to not stop on a junction where C1 class ambulances are likely to travel, the Fiats are awful at turning in my experience, however, sometimes a more direct approach is required, which I think is achieved with red routes.
We’ve had discussions with the wardens to challenge PTS before and successfully encouraged them to be more orderly, and I’d like to extend this to normal vehicles as well.
Odd, I live just off London Road and didn’t receive a leaflet on consultation.
Towns with fully pedestrianised centres manage deliveries, it should be no problem here. Perhaps if the entitled drivers who think it’s okay to park on the double yellows didn’t do so, they wouldn’t have ruined it for the rest of the drivers.
Blame the entitled drivers, not the council that need to clean up your messes.
As I understand it the people who live in or want to move to the Gladstone Terrace part of Lewes Road or in the flats above the shops will need to apply for special permission from the council for a permit to allow a removal lorry to stop outside their home. And we all know how good Brighton Council is at dealing with anything in a timely manner…
Presumably all the communal bins currently situated in the loading bays will be moved onto the pavement therefore creating as much of a nuisance to pedestrians as parked vans.
Once those shops are all closed we can build more student accommodation.
I’ve also just noticed that the only loading bay for Gladstone Terrace is at the far north end opposite the demolition site (currently partially occupied by bins) so anyone attempting to deliver heavy domestic goods (i.e. a cooker or freezer) to the houses at the far south end is going to have a long way to carry them…
Also I can’t imagine that the deliveroo mob will take any notice of the restrictions anyway.
I’d imagine they would use a delivery trolley…
Name one thriving pedestrianised city. They might look nice to start with but footfall drops like a stone pretty quickly, particularly if extortionate parking is added to the mix. People take the path of least resistance. They go where they are welcome and it is cheap and easy for them to park and get around.
Vienna Prague Amsterdam Stockholm Copenhagen…
Great examples of UK cities. Chichester is dying on its backside since the centre was pedestrianised. Most of central London is a ghost town unless there’s a pro or anti Palestine protest going on.
Horsham’s just up the road, I was there last weekend and it was fantastic.
Get out of your car and enjoy great British towns and cities.
2 bays for the whole of Gladstone terrace, yeah that should work.
You didn’t say UK cities bazzer
He’s right. However, can that be translated to UK Cities?
200,000 pound a year is what it’s all about..
All they really need to do is to enforce the URBAN CLEARWAYS that already exist. This would stop the parking and loading problems caused at the specific times they’re required, rather than a blanket all day ban . The clearway have been in place and signposted for decades….
“With budget expected to bring in £200,000 per year!” That’s all you need to know. Once again they simply want to take as much money out of your wallet as possible. They couldn’t give a toss about anything else no matter how you want to dress it up. Scumbags the lot of ’em
I drive, pay for a permit, and manage to NEVER park in a cycle lane or on a double yellow. Why do people think it’s ok for vans to block cycle lanes? I’m on a bus stop and have never in the 10 years I’ve been on my street off London Rd ever parked right outside my premises; we take delivery from drivers parking in loading bays. This is a problem created by those who don’t care, they can only blame yourselves for the council having to put in red routes. Park considerately, and safely, not jeopardising those around you.
Here here!
My unwavering perspective, consistently reinforced over time, is that the overall standard of driving is disappointingly low. I advocate for mandatory refresher lessons to address the inevitable development of bad habits that even experienced drivers, myself included as a professional with advanced qualifications, can acquire. The concern arises when these habits transition into unconscious incompetencies, posing increased risks not only to ourselves but also to those sharing the road with us.
It astounds me that people are arguing that we should park on double yellow lines and go shopping on Lewes Rd or London Rd. There are plenty of buses that go there, or just walk if you’re local. People taking advantage of the 5 min rule on double yellows has created a culture of people abandoning their vehicles where they feel like it, while the rest of us drivers struggle to navigate around their selfishly dumped cars among the rest of the traffic and illegally ridden electric scooters. The council had to do something to clean up our roads. I cannot wait.
The five-minute rule thing is quite often used incorrectly as well, it’s a five-minute observation period. If you’re observed to be parked on double yellows for ANY length of time, then you’ve broken the highway code and a fine can be issued.
I feel as if i have to risk my life twice a day when on lewes road when dodging people who think it’s their god given right to park immediately outside of a shop in a bike lane. A very welcome splash of red paint onto Lewes Road.
I had to collect a heavy bit of furniture and went looking for a pay2park parking bay. Most of these were taken by resident permit holders. Ended up in Brewer street a long way from where I wanted to be. It would be nice if the council could restrict parking in the few pay and display bays to people who buy a ticket on the pay2park app and not allow resident permit holders access to pay2park bays!
Ban bikes!
Ensuring accessible parking for Deliveroo and Uber drivers is crucial for the smooth operation of restaurants and businesses relying on online orders. Without convenient parking options, these essential delivery personnel, often on mopeds or cars, face challenges in picking up orders. If local councils prioritize generating revenue over accommodating delivery services, it may lead to significant repercussions for businesses heavily dependent on online orders.
In today’s era, where many prefer the convenience of delivery services, neglecting the needs of delivery riders and drivers could have detrimental effects. The potential financial strain on businesses, especially those thriving on online orders, may jeopardize their sustainability. As our society increasingly relies on these delivery services, it becomes imperative to prioritize the support and facilitation of the individuals who ensure the smooth flow of goods.
Consider the impact on individuals without personal transportation, such as the elderly and disabled, who heavily depend on services like Deliveroo and Uber for their daily needs. Making it challenging for delivery drivers would not only hinder the functioning of the city but also exacerbate road congestion as people revert to traditional shopping methods. Let’s recognize the essential role of delivery personnel, especially during the COVID era, and ensure the city’s functionality by providing appropriate parking solutions for them. Or is the council actually anti small business and actually not fit for purpose when they don’t see the bigger picture of their plans. I am ready to be corrected but it seems a lot of people are going to suffer with this red route plan all because the council can’t just use the law as it stands now to stop illegal parking. And if any of you that think it’s a good idea for a red route that order food and other groceries online (I bet that’s a lot of you) you might think differently when you can’t get the thing you wanted delivered. Deliveroo and Uber doesn’t work via magic, people have to physically go to those places on those roads and pick your order up. So once again this red route system may well close a lot of shops and ultimately increase traffic as people have to get their own groceries, the council need to support those delivery drivers if they want the city to keep working properly.