Dozens of protesters stood in Western Road, Hove, last night (Thursday 5 November) as workers prepared to start painting road markings for the planned red route.
The protest appears to have initially stopped any work although the group did not obstruct workers from painting in loading bays and junction markings.
Business owners and residents have campaigned against the red route since it was proposed last year and submitted a petition signed by more than 3,000 people to Brighton and Hove City Council.
The red route is due to come into force this month, banning vehicles from stopping, unlike double yellow lines which, apart from one stretch, permitted stopping but not parking except by blue badge holders.
Major repair works have been carried out over the past month and are near completion, with workers painting the lines for loading bays last night because loading and unloading will be more restricted by the new red lines.
Traders said that almost no premises had rear access and that the disproportionately few proposed loading bays would make it hard if not impossible for some deliveries to be handled securely in line with health and safety law.
Western Road Community Group representative Catherine Lane, who lives in the area and runs a business there and cares for her disabled father, has been a prominent voice of the campaign.
She said: “People of every nationality just turned up spontaneously as it was not formally organised, uniting to protest against what the Labour cabinet are doing to the high street we love and the thousand-plus jobs that depend on it.
“Plus, also the disservice they are doing to exclude the disabled and elderly from our street.
“We are going to organise another one for tonight (Friday 6 November) and one for every night for as long as it takes.
“They will be peaceful and legal and will spring up at any time of day or night.”
The protesters met outside Farrow and Ball although there was no suggestion that the council was sourcing its red paint from the upmarket chain.
Labour councillor Trevor Muten, the council’s cabinet member for transport and city infrastructure, approved the £200,000 red route in June.
After traders threatened to take legal action, the decision was made again by the council’s cabinet in September, when Councillor Muten recused himself.
Opposition councillors requested a “call in” of the decision but a scrutiny committee debated the request and declined to ask the cabinet or council to overturn it.
Brighton and Hove Buses supports the scheme which comes after two earlier red routes – along the A23 London Road and Preston Road and along a section of Lewes Road.
Data published by the council in April showed that since the double red lines were painted along the two roads, the number of injuries had fallen from 11 to three in Lewes Road and from 15 to nine in London Road.
The lines forbid vehicles from stopping 24 hours a day – and, crucially, can be enforced by cameras which means getting a ticket is much more likely. It has meant far fewer parked vehicles have obstructed cycle lanes and bus stops.
Buswatch has also spoken in favour of the latest red route.
The campaign group’s chair Nash Travelman said: “We believe the planned red route is essential to back up other measures aimed at encouraging more bus travel.
“This is a corridor with around 46 buses per hour on 11 different routes (equivalent to one bus each way every 78 seconds), we understand that buses now take 15 per cent longer from Hove to reach Churchill Square than they did 10 years ago.
“This scheme will complement bus service improvements which could be wasted should this scheme not go ahead.
“We absolutely welcome the fundamental right to protest but cannot condone one that deliberately gets in the way of workers who are carrying out the work, delaying progress of the reopening for everyone’s – including bus users’ – benefit.”
Council figures published in April also showed that, in London Road, there were more than 100,000 extra movements of people on the road in the 12 months after the red route was brought in.
The council said that the number went up from 4.78 million in the year from May 2023 to April 2024 to 4.89 million from May 2024 to April 2025.
Financial projections forecast that the Western Road red route could raise £50,000 in income once camera enforcement begins.
The Labour deputy leader of the council, Jacob Taylor, said that he hoped that the route would not make any money because “then it would be working”.
A public meeting about the latest scheme was told that the two existing red routes each generated a six-figure sum although Councillor Muten expected that to reduce over time.
Councillor Taylor said that he would join Councillor Muten and officials as early as day one of the Western Road red route to talk to businesses and assess its effects.
