Two more roads in Brighton and Hove are to become red routes, starting with the stretch of Western Road between Holland Road and Montpelier Road, with Queen’s Road to follow.
The roads will be marked with double red lines to indicate no stopping, let alone parking, except in marked bays, with camera enforcement in prospect.
The latest red routes were agreed a year after the first two were brought in along Lewes Road and the A23 London Road and Preston Road.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s cabinet has agreed to keep the first two and to turn two more roads into red routes at a cabinet meeting at Hove Town Hall yesterday (Thursday 20 March).
Labour councillor Trevor Muten, the council’s cabinet member for transport and parking, said that the first two red routes had improved traffic flow and bus punctuality.
The rules ban stopping for any vehicle apart from cabs and blue badge drop-offs but they have been criticised by traders and residents.
Business owners along London Road – M&B Meats and Pamir – have complained about receiving fines when delivery drivers are in loading bays and away from their vehicles for more than six minutes.
Other businesses – Presuming Ed and Smokemart – have struggled with lack of available loading bays.
More loading bays have been created along London Road since the scheme went live last April, with the loading area lengthened outside McDonald’s and Taco Bell because initially it was too small.
Councillor Muten said: “Can I make this clear – the red routes have not increased the length of road where parking is restricted.
“In fact, since the red routes were introduced in April, five new loading bays and one four-metre motorcycle parking bay have been added to London Road.
“We have listened and responded and will continued to do so.”
He said that the difference was enforcement, with the council’s transport control centre team monitoring the cameras and making “fair decisions”.
Councillor Muten said: “Loading bays are ignored by some who think the brevity of their illegal parking has no consequence – yet it does.
“The scale of disregard of existing parking restrictions on some main routes is such that we need to consider more robust enforcement.”
He said that bus build-up and hazards happened even when vehicles stopped “for a couple of minutes” when people went to the shops.
Brighton and Hove Buses had reported improved punctuality and reliability on the services using Lewes Road, London Road and Preston Road, he said.
Councillor Muten added that Cycling UK and Bricycles had said that cyclists felt safer because there were no illegally parked vehicles in the Lewes Road cycle lane.
The red routes will be funded from the £3.2 million Bus Service Improvement Scheme budget for 2025-26.
A longer-term strategy for red routes is expected to be brought before the cabinet later this year.
Another money making scheme by the council extorting hard earned cash from hard pressed motorists
It’s not like there are more restrictions, you were NEVER allowed to park there. Now it’s more enforceable. You don’t want to lose your hard-earned cash to fines? Follow the rules of the road. Simple.
You seem to have all the answers for every problem anywhere in Brighton and Hove. Your comments are ubiquitous. Why are you not putting yourself up for election as a councillor? As well as head of the grammer/spelling Gestapo?
I feel a bit guilty now thinking the first thing I thought was “It’s spelt grammar”. Thank you very much for the compliment though, I strive for a solution-based approach, and do try to have an informed opinion on things. Cllr. Lyons also suggested the same thing, funnily enough, which was nice of him to say.
In this instance, I can confidently say that as a qualified driver, I am aware of and keep myself updated with the highway code, as we all agree to do when we sign after we pass our test.
A car, such luxury
Good. Western Road has been the car park for all the kebab and barber shops for years.
Good. Cleaner air beckons.
…..until VG3 takes effect!
Hahaha, you can’t help yourself! Cllr. Muten lives rent-free in your head!
Whoa! Boring Benjy is getting edgy! I’ve been savaged by the master of bland,inept drivel ..
What lives in your head – blancmange?
If that’s all it takes for you to be “savaged” Tom…we call that in the business a self-burn.
Great news, about time 🥳
‘improving traffic flow’ says Muten.
The new cycle lanes and ‘improvements’ on the A23 by Preston Park include built-our bus stops which will mean traffic cannot overtake parked buses as it could before
So, more congestion and pollution…
Thanks Trev!
As soon as VG3:kicks in, traffic will be at a standstill anyway, so Muten’s premise about keeping traffic moving will be invalid
You’re absolutely right! The road layout there previously worked just fine, with one lane heading off to the right and one lane going straight ahead. Getting rid of one lane just to put in a cycle path for that short distance is madness. You see the cars queued all the way back up the road now it’s crazy.
The disregard of existing parking restrictions is the problem
There doesn’t seem to be any consideration for anybody else
It’s just what they can get away with
But I imagine this will lead to even more pavement parking on side roads. Nord Cafe seem to have claimed the pavement as a customer parking space
I completely agree, resources (traffic wardens) need to be directed to the side roads as the lazy parkers use them instead. You’re absolutely right about Nord – I think the road next to it is Lansdowne Street, it’s like a car park up there with all the Nord customers. Most of them are taxi’s – there’s some link there I think.
It’s about revenue then revenue then revenue then something about clean air and bus punctuality. Yes of course. You will not see forward thinking incentives that cost money only anti business and anti car expansion.
I sat on a slow bus the other day as it tried to navigate its way past all the cars illegally parked on Western road.
These new red routes became inevitable once all the shop and restaurant owners decided it was OK to park every evening outside their premises, selfishly blocking or narrowing the road for everyone else.
Sometimes they even park on the pavement, knowing that the traffic wardens rarely work after 9pm.
Get private parking contractors in then if the council enforcement officers or too ineffective to deal with a simple issue like this.
…or use Red Route monitoring, Tracy.
Excellent
What about disabled people? Hard to find closer parking place to the market or shops. Since April I can’t go there because of miss parking space. Once I got tickets because I stopped in loading bay and I’m not that “quick”.
The idea of ‘drop offs’ for disabled people doesn’t work for most of us – because we don’t use vehicles in the same way as non-disabled people – don’t the council know this. Because a couple of cycling groups (out of the many in the city) like it, he thinks it’s okay?
Councillor Muten’s saying “can I make this clear – the red routes have not increased the length of road where parking is restricted’, just tells us he has no understanding about disabled people because red routes, changed from double yellows, have vastly reduced the places we can park – can’t even go along either London or Lewes Road any longer – they have completely lost business. Brighton’s so unwelcoming for disabled people, its getting really quite nasty and unpleasant.
Holland Square?
The article was cut and pasted from The Arsegas – or vice-versa – as exactly the same lack of local knowledge is displayed there.
It’s shameful. Whatever happened to local papers having local reporters that actually knew where they lived.
Hi Charles,
If you check the date of this article, you’ll see that it was published on our site before it appeared in The Argus.
However, there is a simple reason for that – it is written by Sarah Booker-Lewis, our local democracy reporter, who we employ under a BBC contract. The terms of the contract are that her stories are made available to all local media – including The Argus.
You can read more about how the scheme operates here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/lnp/ldrs
You don’t make clear what parts of the article lead you to conclude she has a lack of local knowledge. She grew up in Brighton and has lived here for most of her life, but obviously nobody is infallible. If we’ve made a mistake, please let us know.
How about the fact that there is no such place as “Holland Square”. In the context of the story it should be either Holland Road or Palmeria Square. So yes, lack of local knowledge and it’s not even as if she couldn’t look on a map.
But thanks for the response.
You have no clue mate, Sarah is a brilliant local journalist who goes above and beyond investigating news for Brighton And Hove News – and beyond. Her articles are well researched and very well written – if you feel that you can do a better job then apply to be a guest writer. Or is it easier just to sit behind your keyboard and be critical just for the sake of it.
See reply above. Making a simple mistake like “Holland Square” – which doesn’t exist – does not strike me as “going above and beyond investgating” or “well researched and very well written”. I am not critical for the sake of it, I am critical because someone who “grew up in Brighton and has lived here for most of her life” should have better local knowledge, or at least check on a map before publishing.
Frank le Duc has explained as my editor he decided to change the location to Palmeira Square and then went back to Holland Road but left the square in. So not my error. Someone DMed me about this earlier hence the correction.
You’ll find my work in multiple media outlets and usually here first.
Excellent decision which should have been implemented years ago!
The Holland Square error was mine, made while editing the story. i was going to describe the western extent of the proposed red route as Palmeira Square but chose instead to stick with Holland Road – as Sarah had written it. Annoyingly, I made a hash of changing it back. Sorry about that.
Apologies for any aspersions cast upon Sarah – I can only read that which is published and the byline – and well done to you for putting your hand up.
Much better than anyone seems to do at the Argus where criticism is rarely, if ever, tolerated.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thanks – and apologies again for the mistake.
Horrifying that there was no consultation on this as this will destroy small businesses and create chaos in the surrounding residential streets.
I highly doubt that. Academia is pretty clear how little people unlawfully parking actually affects businesses. Maybe it will increase short-term pressure in the surrounding residential streets, that’s less clear cut. An argument for stricter monitoring of permit parking, that one.
The blokes parking their massive Land Rovers and Mercedes on the pavement are not delivery drivers. Hopefully the red route will also reduce the amount of vapists and smokers polluting the pavement too