Disabled parking bays on Madeira Drive will be out of action for the next few months while they are used to store materials for the revamp of Valley Gardens.
The final phase of the reworking of the A23 south of The Level – which includes the removal of the Aquarium roundabout – is due to finish in the summer.
But until then, the bays outside Soho House have been suspended so they can be used to store building materials.
This picture was taken by Paul Griffiths, who regularly takes his disabled son, to the soft play on the Palace Pier. He is angry a different area wasn’t chosen to store the materials.
He said: “He can’t walk a very long distance at all so I was looking to park close to the pier. When I got to the parking bays by Madeira Drive they were full of building materials.
“We ended up finding a space by Yellowave and then having to carry him back down to the pier. I can do it, but the reality is those disabled bays should be in use for disabled users and not for storing construction materials.
“There’s a loading bay next to them which should have been used. That would inconvenience local businesses but someone has made a decision to use the disabled bays instead.
“We look in an ableist world where people who are able don’t consider the needs of people who have blue badges. They’re issued for a reason to give people support to access facilities.
“I understand there’s changes to Valley Gardens but I think more due consideration could have been used to take out part of the road to store these.
“We live in this city and we have to use the facilities in this city every day and it doesn’t hold much water for me that they’re saying it’s done at a quieter time of year.
“Disabled people are not considered for and not catered for. It just makes a mockery of the whole system.”
Cabinet member for transport Trevor Muten said: “One of the key benefits of the Valley Gardens project is that once the work is complete, this area will have vastly improved accessibility, including wider pavements, more direct pedestrian crossings and additional disabled parking bays.
“As part of the work currently taking place our contractor requires a nearby compound and storage area.
“We looked into several different options, but there is limited space in this location – not least as much of the area needs to be kept clear for work to proceed and to maintain access to pedestrians and cyclists.
“This part of the work has been timed for a quieter period when there is considerably less demand for parking spaces, including disabled parking bays.
“We are only using some of the disabled parking bays, meaning that despite the temporary disruption, there are disabled bays still available and in use.
“We have also encouraged the contractor to only use these bays when absolutely necessary.
“The necessary permissions for this temporary change are in place. A temporary traffic regulation order which covers the full construction period includes the suspensions of these parking bays.
“This is something we have been open and transparent about at each stage of the project, including during public consultation.
“We do understand there is an element of disruption while the work is taking place – and appreciate residents’ patience.”
Never realised the A27 went that far south!
Anyway, good to see BHCC ignoring the needs of the disabled…..again
How am I not surprised by this. Lost a lot of disabled bays in the immediate facility of valley gardens. By the doctors surgery they’ve got 2/6 that are disabled bays and they are on the opposite side of the road to the surgeries. Even after consultation with the surgeries the council still managed to mess that up. Then further round by the valley gardens coach station they took more parking bays including several disabled bays out and replaced them with two. Then they took more disabled bays out on marine parade to make way for the bus lane. Even normal pay and display bays in and around valley gardens which disabled badge holders were able to use alongside vehicles using the pay and display bays previously, have now been dug up, taken out and removed. Meaning less and less parking in general. Let alone parking for blue badge holders.
The council don’t care for the disabled. Or the struggles they face. It’s all about them looking good trying to make Brighton & Hove “better” and adding all these unused cycle lanes in. When actually it’s made it worse, gridlocked the city further and most disabled people aren’t able to cycle. So rely on their vehicles and blue badges to get around the city and park closer to where they need to go. But instead the council have and are continuing to punish and penalise some of the most vulnerable and ill of the city. As if disabled people don’t have enough adversity and stigma to deal with. But here’s BHCC feeding into it.
Why can’t the council use the unused cycle lanes or several loading bays around the area, to store the materials.
Absolutely shameful!
Loads of alternative disabled/blue badge bays around and this was announced months ago.
Disabled groups were NOT approached and consulted or there would have been mass objections. Many were not expecting the council to hate them this much.
A disabled friend found the same story at the King Alfred leisure centre when he went for a swim. The disabled bays had been turned into a contractor’s compound. it is so blatantly obvious that the council couldn’t care less about disabled residents.
It also looks like neither project has the proper permissions in place to go ahead anyway. No TRO for the A259 Aquarium roundabout – which isn’t actually part of Valley Gardens – and no planning application has yet gone in for the King Alfred, so both are putting the cart before the horse and discriminating against the disabled ahead of time.
The contractor’s bay at king Alfred is for the beach works, not the leisure centre. The bays have been replaced with significantly more disabled spaces within the king Alfred car park some 50m away.
It’s a shame that Council Leader Sankey scrapped the Equalities, Community Safety & Human Rights Committee in May 2024 in her fevered and self-serving pusuit of a cabinet council regime change without public mandate. And her a former Human Rights Barrister. Embarrassing for anyone who wasn’t completely shameless.
Equalities Impact Assessments need to be demanded before another single traffic cone goes down or there will only be more disability discrimination for the 19% residents of Brighton and Hove classified as disabled.
Those responsibilities are in the Overview Scrutiny Committees.
Just behind their temporary work huts there is so much space for the materials, yes its on the public walkway but nothing was ever said about planking the huts there, especially when they have taken over all the space by the fountain.
There are two sets of work yards – one for the beach defences on the right hand side of Hove Street south full of Mackley equipment and one round to the left outside the back of the King Alfred. That is the one which has wiped out the disabled car park serving the King Alfred. Having disabled spaces much further away is not helpful and there are no works going on yet anyway so why was this yard set up so prematurely?
DISABILITIES ARE NOT CARED FOR.
Again, when will the council ever understand that blue badges spaces are there for people who can’t move so well, not for waste bins, building materials, contractor vans, or the numerous other excuses they want to give. So the dad Paul has to carry his son so he can go to the soft play area – where is the Councils shame.
There are not lots of other spaces around there, the ones further down are for the toilets, or much further down…people who have blue badges can’t walk that far. Thanks for letting us know Paul, and hope you can find a good solution before your son next wants to play.
There’ll also not be more blue badges spaces on valley gardens than before, and with a new venue and wanting to have this as a green space, there should be many more bays so disabled people can actually enjoy Brighton, the situation is really badly thought through.