This is no longer just a debate about the Western Road red route. This is a question of whether our community is being heard.
I am not a political person and have never closely observed how political decisions are made. What I have seen during the course of this one I have found, quite frankly, staggering.
The community is not being listened to by the people we elected to act on our behalf. The council’s cabinet appears determined to push this through without taking a balanced view of the evidence, or properly considering the impact a red route will have, notably on the disabled and on our high street.
That matters.
On London Road and Lewes Road, shops have closed. Taj and Clarks the Butchers are both gone. The British Heart Foundation charity shop is about to close. All have attributed their closures to the red route.
Countless other traders have told us how badly it has affected them, costing sales and jobs.
Brilliant Brighton and the Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce have both respectfully requested that the council carry out an “economic impact assessment” and consider its findings before making a decision.
Organisations including the Brewery Logistics Group and local suppliers such as Adams and Wholesome Foods have voiced their concerns.
The Brighton and Hove Cab Trade Association has made it clear to the council that its drivers won’t stop for customers in Western Road if the red route goes ahead. All to no avail.
Of course, there are arguments in favour of the red route, notably faster bus journeys and reduced anti-social parking.
But clean air and safety improvement claims previously made by the council have now been dropped.
The reduction in accidents in Western Road has been bigger than in London Road and Lewes Road over the past three years – and the air there is no cleaner.
These relatively modest potential wins need to be balanced against the cost. Before a red route is implemented and potentially irreversible damage is done, the council should consider all angles, objectively measure the benefits and risks and then decide on the best course of action.
That has not happened. There is now a groundswell of recognition that it should have. A record number of cross-party councillors have called in the cabinet’s decision because they recognise that it needs further scrutiny.
I thank them for doing so. Perhaps they are wondering if shaving at best a minute off bus journey times is worth the pain.
There is still a chink of light. It may not be too late.
I know I speak for many within the Western Road Community Group, Western Road traders, many disabled people and members of the wider public in hoping that, even at this late stage, the council’s cabinet will be prepared to step back and objectively consider the evidence before proceeding.
This is big. It will affect disabled people’s quality of life, businesses, jobs and livelihoods. The evidence needs to be compiled. It needs to be evaluated. And it needs to be considered.
Only then should the final decision be made.
Alastair Gourlay is the founder and managing director of Real Patisserie.
This is a very thought provoking article and echoes the views of almost everyone that has looked closely at the evidence on this scheme. It has felt from the start that views of traders, residents and disabled people were simply ignored and so many facts surrounding this case misrepresented to the public.The strongest case for pausing this scheme comes from Brighton & Hove City Council itself. Its own Cabinet report lists six “uncertainties and concerns”: safety, economic effects, displacement, loading, air quality and footfall.
It admits collision data does not link accidents to vehicles stopping at the kerb. It places “no reliance” on footfall rising. Its own Equality Impact Assessment says “YES” to a disproportionate impact on disabled and older people.
The Chamber of Commerce and Brilliant Brighton both asked for an economic impact assessment first before the Western rd red route was implemented. Fifteen cross-party councillors have now called the decision in for lack of evidence. An experiment can be reversed. A closed shop cannot and it is shocking that the council is proposing to experiment with peoples livelihoods instead of just getting more effective non red route anti-social enforcement options in place. On the average day only two parking tickets are issued on Western Rd a day and on some days no tickets are issued! This just demonstrates that there has been virtually no warden enforcement on this road.
My observation on this is that “the community” is exactly that, and it’s one that is becoming increasingly more unified, cross culturally and for the better, all as a result of “the small people” – ie the residents, the independent shops, those that truly care about democracy and the democratic process – seeing through and standing up to the politicians and mandarins at BHCC who just trot out part lines or are too lazy to do their own research. We’ve seen the shop keepers at the east end of Western Rd be scapegoated unfairly, we’ve attended consultation after consultation but been ignored, we have countered everyone of their claims with facts and evidence yet still this makes no difference. There is an agenda, its cameras and 24/7 365 days a year enforcement by those cameras and the people operating/watching them. That’s an Orwellian dystopia as its BHCC staff sat behind closed doors enforcing and not NSL traffic wardens (who are contracted to BHCC and who are not paid by the council) who are currently issuing fines. The simple facts are that this road works fine as it is. Buses move, the roads are safe and the air is clean as it is. Cllr Czolak has used “gridlock” to describe the current situation. That’s plainly untrue. Cllr Muten has said its a stated aim to increase bus numbers from 40 per hour, each way, to 60 per hour each way. That will be gridlock. There’s no enforcement of E-bikes tearing along the road, now using pavements while the roadworks are in place, yet apparently it’s all down to “selfish car drivers”. It’s nonsense and hyperbole. I leave you with one point to ponder. Show me one person who was against the red route and after examining the facts is now in favour of its implementation. I challenge you to find one person. I can show you hundreds who, when they stop to listen and be educated on the real facts, have flipped to seeing the “stop the red route” argument. DONT PAINT US OUT, this Council has done it to others in London Rd and Lewes Rd. It shouldn’t and can’t happen here.