A business owner warned last night that if a red route is approved in Western Road, traders would take the council to court.
Alastair Gourlay, who runs the Real Patisserie, said that traders had mustered the resources to take Brighton and Hove City Council to the High Court for a judicial review.
Mr Gourlay said that they had taken legal advice because they believed that a red route – where stopping is banned other than in marked bays – would put their livelihoods on the line.
The changes would also make it harder for blue badge holders and others with disabilities to use shops and services in Western Road including one of the busiest doctors’ surgeries in Brighton and Hove.
Another speaker at the same meeting, James Rock, cited 10 examples of the harm done to retailers in London Road and Lewes Road, both A roads, since they became red routes.
His examples included the closure of a butcher’s shop, and the butcher’s personal bankruptcy, and the closure of Taj and WH Smith and the pending closure of the British Heart Foundation (BHF) furniture shop.
Mr Rock said that the BHF shop’s profits had plummeted and the store manager was being made redundant while others who were loading or unloading in the marked bays were repeatedly ticketed.
Mr Gourlay and Mr Rock spoke out last night (Tuesday 8 September) when they were among several who urged the council’s cabinet to explore other ways to deal with anti-social parking along Western Road.
At a public meeting at the Cornerstone Community Centre, in Hove, both men criticised anti-social parking – as did several other business owners present who denied claims that traders were behind the problem.
Parking rules in Western Road, a key bus route as well as shopping street, are enforced by wardens known as “civil enforcement officers” but traders said that they were rarely seen there.
Labour councillor Trevor Muten disagreed and said that he had even seen one issuing a ticket in Western Road on his way to the meeting, at the Cornerstone Community Centre, in Hove.
Councillor Muten said that if the council brought in a red route, it could enforce parking rules and issue parking tickets – known as “penalty charge notices” – by camera.
This would not be possible if Western Road kept its double yellow lines which restrict “waiting” but permit drivers to pick people up and drop them off and, unless prohibited, permit loading and unloading.
One resident said: “Why don’t you use the powers that you already have (to tackle anti-social parking_. Putting a red route in is a very pernicious way of doing it.
“We rarely see any parking wardens along here. You want the red route because of the money.”
Councillor Muten accepted that the red routes had brought a spike in income from camera-generated fines in London Road and Lewes Road after they became red routes.
But he denied that this was why the council wanted to turn the western part of Western Road into a red route too.
He said: “The definition of a red route that works is one where there are no fines.”
The council has previously said that a red route would speed up bus journey times, make shops easier to access and improve safety.
One business owner said later that the council had yet to provide any evidence of even one accident or injury linked to businesses or their customers or suppliers loading or unloading in Western Road.
Another trader, Carrie Cox, of Florian, the florist, read out words spoken by Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister, when he was campaigning during the Makerfield by-election in June.
Mr Burnham said: “Our high streets matter to me because they matter to the people who live here. I want to make sure that these family-owned businesses, as the heart and soul of this country, are protected and given the chance to thrive.”
She asked for the Labour Prime Minister’s approach to be adopted and urged the council to listen to the strength of feeling on the proposed Western Road red route.
Conservative councillor Alistair McNair, who used to live just off the Hove end of Western Road, said that his party colleagues “wholeheartedly support this campaign”.
He said: “The shops in Western Road are manna from Heaven. Without Western Road, what is Brighton and Hove?”
Councillor McNair said that a red route would harm trade, adding: “The shops will disappear and they will not come back. It’s a fragile ecosystem and it’s a precious ecosystem.”
He also said that the proposed scheme did not include enough bays for people with disabilities and those with a blue badge.
Other traders said that deliveries could only be made to and from the front of premises, causing concern not only to cafés and restaurant owners but also to those who dealt with big or heavy stock or high volumes.
With yellow lines, it was possible to receive and send out deliveries legitimately and legally. This would be much harder along a red route with a limited number of loading bays.
The council’s cabinet is due to decide whether to go ahead with the proposed red route at a meeting at Hove Town Hall at 10.30am on Thursday 17 September. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast.
Looks like all the barber shop, vape store and unhygienic looking restaurant owners who are the people you see constantly checking on their illegally parked cars didn’t bother to show up, now there’s a surprise. Feel sorry for the honest traders
So a working red route according to Trevor Muten is one in which no one gets a fine. So there were 18,108 CCTV‑enforced PCNs across the city in 2025/26, of which 12,589 came from the three existing Red Route corridors according to to a recent FOI. So by his definition if this wasn’t about raising money other red routes aren’t working so no more should be installed.
. Western Rd is a longer route than any of the other red routes I wonder what the calculations are for fine revenue from Western Rd? Anyone think this feels like just another Labour tax!