A business owner has started a petition against a proposal to turn a busy shopping street into a red route to forbid drivers from stopping.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s cabinet agreed in principle last month to create two new red routes in Western Road and Queen’s Road and to make the London Road and Lewes Road red routes permanent.
Florist Pauline Ford set up the petition – Protect Our Local Independent Businesses – on the Change.org website in response to the Western Road proposal.
More than 900 people have signed the petition, backing the campaign against the proposed red route along Western Road between Holland Road and Montpelier Road.
In the petition, she said: “This red route could disproportionately affect those who rely on assistance to access our businesses.
“Customers with disabilities, elderly patrons and those with limited mobility often depend on close and convenient parking or drop-off points.
“By eliminating these essential access points, we risk alienating a significant portion of our customer base and compromising the principle of equality for all members of our community.”
She is worried about the effects of a red route on her business, Florian, which delivers flowers in an area that includes Shoreham in the west and Rottingdean in the east.
She said that loading larger floral arrangements for funerals and weddings would be challenging.
Deliveries are also a concern and she said that one supplier had said that they would no longer be able to deliver if the red route went ahead.
Other worries included the shop’s regular window cleaner who comes at 6am but would not be able to park outside.
In her petition, Ms Ford said that the cost of the red route was £35 million. She was later told that this was meant to be £3.5 million – a similar figure to the cost of pavement rewidening along the eastern end of Western Road.
The council said that it had allocated £200,000 towards the project from the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) and planned to consult residents and businesses in Western Road in late summer to early autumn.
If the council pushes ahead with the plan, it would then expect to bring in an experimental traffic regulation order (ETRO), also subject to comments, with the red route to go live by late next year.
Labour councillor Trevor Muten said: “Western Road is an area where we see a lot of anti-social parking causing hazards and delay to traffic including buses, cyclists and pedestrians.
“A red route here will go a long way in helping to keep this busy part of the city safe and moving.
“Red routes provide more effective means of enforcing the parking restrictions already in place and can help businesses.”
Councillor Muten, the council’s cabinet member for transport and parking, added: “In London Road, we actually created more loading bays than were in place before.
“In London, it’s been shown that red routes can enhance the look and feel of a city and help improve air quality.
“We’ve had a lot of positive feedback from public transport operators, cyclists and residents about the red routes in London Road and Lewes Road. They’ve made travelling in those areas safer and journeys less congested and more reliable.
“We met several times with local shop owners and we’ll be working hard to do the same in Western Road when we go out to public consultation later this year.
“We’re committed to working with traders, residents and visitors to ensure our red routes work well for everyone.”
The Protect Our Local Independent Businesses petition is currently open on the Change.org website.
I took a close look at the road layout on Google Maps to better understand the area around this shop. Even in those images, a bus had to move into the centre of the carriageway to navigate around numerous parked vehicles, including two taxis and nine other vehicles. I noted that only two of them were displaying Blue Badges. This suggests that a significant number of drivers may be disregarding the double yellow line restrictions.
Ford raises valid concerns about the accessibility of loading and parking. However, I also observed that there is a reasonably sized taxi rank directly across the road, less than 10 metres from her shop, alongside paid-for parking spaces. It seems there may already be opportunities to rethink how parking and access are managed in this area, making better use of the existing spaces alongside measures such as loading bays and timed red route restrictions.
It’s also worth noting that there is strong evidence, both from academic studies and from Transport for London’s experience, that red routes significantly improve traffic flow and road safety, while having minimal long-term impact on local businesses. Research has consistently shown that businesses often overestimate how many of their customers arrive by car, and overstate the negative effects of parking restrictions.
Overall, I remain in favour of red routes. The potential improvements to traffic flow, safety, and collision reduction outweigh the negatives, particularly if access and loading are sensibly managed.
Where her business is, is next to a crossing and I constantly see people parked on the zigzag lines which is very dangerous for pedestrians. The vast majority of people driving and parking on western road, are the traders on western road. Those who drive, when they easily could get a bus can park in the side street and stop blocking the main road.
Having said that, it would make more sense to just make the pavements wider so people can’t park in the traffic lanes and have a few loading bays on the south side of the road, especially the area near Brunswick as the road does widen there. With the exception of the Montpellier road end,, that’s always a mess with the kebab shop lot and the palmera sq end where Tesco/Sainsbury’s trucks regularly block the road, that desperately needs red route.
“Western Road is an area where we see a lot of anti-social parking causing hazards and delay to traffic including buses, cyclists and pedestrians.”
Yes like the woman complaining yet parks on double yellows!
The businesses treat double-yellows as a joke until a traffic warden turns up. They know the wardens have to wait 5 minutes beside every single vehicle
It’s their own fault, they show no respect for everyone else
If only people respected the double yellow lines, then we wouldn’t have to go down this route of punishment via fines.
Compromising the safety and flow for traffic for your own selfish gain, due to laziness or ignorance, now comes with consequences. How on earth is this controversial?
F around and find out.
Another cash cow for our acquisitive council
If people didn’t break the rules they’d be no cash to collect!
If people are daft enough to park or drive where they shouldn’t then the fines are the consequence and easily avoidable.
Not usually a fan of red routes but this end of Western Road needs them. The double yellows have become meaningless and are totally abused. As long as any route has loading bays for the traders and blue badge bays then it can only be a good scheme.
Local business have been ignoring yellow lines for years, so only have them selves to blame. I hope they extend red route to Church Road ,Hove, where there is also a big problem.
The whole point of double yellow lines is to stop people parking and thus make our roads safer for pedestrians, cyclists and other motorists. The people (many of them shopkeepers) who flout the double yellow lines along Western Road (and further up towards Holland Road) have no regard for the law and by their selfishness are making the roads less safe. It is THEIR fault that the council have no choice but to install red routes – and as for these arrogant shopkeepers – they are basically saying that they support those who break the law and endanger the safety of their own customers. Why on earth would anyone need to bring a car to pick up some flowers???
I have made a list of all the shops along Western Road who have posters up saying that they are against the red route and I will make a point of not supporting them. I know I’m only one person but when I walk past and see their anti red route posters, then glance over and see a load of cars parked on double yellows it does make my blood boil somewhat. In the past two weeks I have seen one near-miss and one crash involving a cyclist and a pedestrian – in both cases caused (to some degree) by illegally parked cars.
I would urge people to e-mail your support for the red routes to Brighton Council at: ParkingProjects@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Could you post the list on here please David, I’m sure people would be interested to know…
Noone should be dropping off or picking up outside her shop aynway at the moment wth double yellows and a crossing so near. I’d like to know truly how much business she might lose and whether, in fact, people who are perfecty well and mobile should really be walking a bit to come by, are who she’s really defending at the expense of buses, pedestrians and road safety.
I think the council need to be challenged to provide an economic impact assessment for each of these Red Route schemes, prior to implementation.
If they are refusing to listen to business owners who know how their own businesses work and need to be serviced and visited, that is a dangerous Council who are acting against the interests of local businesses. Yet they expect ever increasing charges and taxes from us!
BHCC need to be reminded that they are public servants elected to serve. Nor do we the residents, or our businesses, consent to being used as experimental guinea pigs for ideological experiments which come with no proven benefit to businesses and no insurance indemnity if they backfire. We have not even been asked, but rather told, what is intended. It is outrageous.
So they’d be listening to business owners whose very actions by persistenttly parking on double yellows and causing congestion have caused the council to want to put in a red route in the first place?
The council don’t need your personal consent. They have the legal powers to put in red routes and do all sorts of other things in the City. That’s not how laws work. You’re verging on ‘freedom of the land’ nonsense if you think you need to give your consent to every Government action.
The photograph says it all really. A big van in front of a zebra crossing and two Chelsea tractors behind, all on double yellow lines.
Another labour attack on disabled people. If you are a blue badge holder you often cannot walk far. If you look at people parking on this stretch of road about 25% are blue badge holders. Loading bays don’t work. You have camera operators desperate to ticket and what this does is drive people to block up and double park in side streets or just avoid an area. Typical Labour lot never having had any business experience and destroying the livelihoods of small businesses and one of the small measures of freedom many disabled people have.
People are “driven” to double park and block up side streets are they? So they’re being forced at gunpoint?
If 25% of the cars have disabled badges (which I doubt) then 3 times as many do not. What do you think the impact on disabled people is now with all those cars illegally parked? Especially pedestrians, including people with buggies and young children, forced into the road because of pavement parking or having to cross between manoeuvring cars that shouldn’t even be there.
Yes, there definitely needs to be provision for disabled motorists but the current mess is bad for everyone except the selfish few who thinks they have the right to park where they like.
Red routes, despite the name, are not exclusive to Labour! I have severe mobility issues but choose not to have a car. I use local taxi drivers. I frequent this area and see the blue badge holders flagrantly misusing them. I welcome the red route proposal which will enhance accessibility to these businesses. It will speed up busses and enhance the atmosphere. The constant abuse of traffic regulations and feeling of entitlement has caused this situation and the restrictions are necessary imo.
How are Blue Badge owners flagrantly mis using them in this area? They are allowed two hours on double yellow lines?
Only if the vehicle is being used to transport the holder of the badge.
For example There have been many cases of badges being withdrawn due to the badge holder not being present despite the badge being on the car.
Using a badge on a car to just go and do something on behalf of the badge holder is against the BB scheme rules.
The most recent statistics were from 2021 and are as follows:
In 2021, Brighton & Hove City Council prosecuted 19 individuals for Blue Badge misuse and issued 105 Community Resolution Orders. The council also retained 155 Blue Badges, with 74 destroyed due to expiry, cancellation, or the holder’s death. In addition, in 2023/2024, the council completed 197 community resolutions for Blue Badge misuse.
That’s actually quite a high figure – nationally, there were only 698 prosecutions in 2021 (down 50% from the year before).
Like others, I suspect that blue badge misuse in Brighton is rife – but it’s quite difficult to catch someone. Very often, it’s using a relative’s badge when the relative isn’t in the car. I know that not all disabilities are visible but when I see a scaffolding lorry parked up with a blue badge I do wonder what’s going on there. I didn’t think you were allowed to use them when you were working – as many taxi drivers seem to do in Brighton.
How can you tell if someone is flagrantly missing a blue badge which incidentally a prison sentence if you do. Can you tell if someone has oxygen in the car or brain damage, serious bowel problems or MS . Most disabilities are not visible and many of the worst ones are often not visible. Also someone missing the parking restrictions is a council parking office management office issue. If people are and the council can’t run this office correctly outsource it to private contractors that trust me manage private parking schemes in Brighton very effectively.
Tell your freindly neighbourhood barbers to stop parking outside their own a shop and maybe there wouldn’t be an issue.
It is encouraging that so many commenters have pointed out the fundamental flaw in the anti-red route argument and are backing the council’s efforts to tackle what has become an epidemic of inconsiderate, obstructive and often dangerous parking in Western Road. In common with David Smith, I have noted those businesses petitioning against the measure and was rather shocked to see that City Books – an independent business I and many others have supported over the years – is among them. I had no idea you had to park illegally to buy a book. Not to mention the irony of promoting so many titles by authors campaigning on the environment and climate change. Perhaps they can walk or get the bus there in future?
Some of the traders especially between Waitrose and Brunswick square are not helping by parking there own vehicles on double yellow lines and on single yellow lines during the day time, ( restricted hours, ) This blocks the view on drivers turning onto western road from the side roads such as Norfolk sq, . They leave there vehicles parked for hours, if the parking wardens come along they drive round the block and come back 10 minuets later.Its been in there hands and they have decided to completely ignore normal everyday parking rules which are in place for the safety of other drivers , pedestrians, and people trying to cross the road. This is without mentioning the disruption to the buses.