The next steps for active, sustainable and inclusive travel for everyone

Next week, councillors will be asked to approve a series of measures to support active, sustainable and inclusive travel for everyone in Brighton & Hove.

A special meeting of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability committee will take place on Wednesday 21 July to discuss and vote on recommendations for existing and additional Active Travel Fund schemes in the city.

The committee will be asked to agree:

• preliminary designs for Western Road, to a consultation on changes to Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO), and to begin construction on other parts of the scheme 
• preliminary designs for the A23 scheme and that further designs are developed for an additional public consultation
• to progress a trial Park & Ride site at Mill Road from summer 2022, working with Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company
• to keep Phase 1 of the Old Shoreham Road temporary cycle lane in place as an experimental scheme, with a number of improvements
• to proceed with proposed pedestrian changes to Old Shoreham Road at Newtown Road and near Hove Park
• to proceed with proposed temporary changes to increase vehicle queuing space at the Olive Road / Stapley Road junction
• not to proceed at this stage with the proposals for Nevill Road, Windlesham Close, Weald Avenue and Stapley Road
• not to proceed with Phase 2 of the Old Shoreham Road temporary cycle lane at this stage
• to keep the Phase 1 Seafront (A259) temporary westbound cycle lane in place (from West Street to Fourth Avenue) as an experimental scheme, with scheme improvements including disabled parking
• to proceed with the proposals for Phase 2 of the Seafront (A259) temporary westbound cycle lane scheme, including pedestrian, loading and disabled parking improvements
• to proceed with introducing an experimental traffic scheme on King’s Esplanade (and adjoining roads)
• to officers progressing with a new Active Travel Fund (2021/22) bid to secure future funding for schemes, including consideration for Marine Parade, Old Town, A23, Old Shoreham Road and a ‘Mini-Hollands’ proposal for the city.

Read the full report, recommendations and the results of the consultation.

City wide consultation

A public consultation was held between 1 February and 14 March. This gave us the opportunity to get valuable feedback on how the schemes could be improved or adjusted.

More than 7000 information packs and over 18,000 postcards were sent to addresses immediately surrounding or in the wider area of the four schemes (A23, Western Road, Old Shoreham Road and A259).

Residents, businesses, stakeholders and community groups from across the city were invited to take part. We received 4695 individual responses to the consultation. 

As part of the funding award, the government said that meaningful consultation on new schemes should take place but that it ‘should not be confused with listening only to the loudest voices’.

Respondents were asked to complete a public opinion survey before being given the opportunity to respond to questions about individual schemes. Among the headline results from the public opinion survey were:

• In terms of active travel use since the pandemic, almost a third of respondents have switched some of their short journeys from car or van to walking and cycling
• When asked whether the council should be taking action to improve conditions in certain categories, across all four of these (air quality, traffic noise, traffic congestion and road safety), over 50% of respondents agree or strongly agree that the council should act

The results of the public consultation, including responses to individual scheme designs, can be found in the report.

Changing how and why we travel

On both a local and national level, we are changing the way we travel. We’ve seen in the last year that more people are walking and cycling shorter trips or as part of a longer journey. Greater numbers are working from home and we expect that to continue even after the pandemic.

Last summer the government gave councils clear instructions to improve walking and cycling facilities as part of their vision for increasing active travel. Brighton & Hove City Council was awarded funding specifically for this purpose. This instruction also included making sure that local authorities adhered to new design standards which included separating cyclists from both traffic and pedestrians.

In addition to the progress made  during the pandemic,, our strategic plans for travel, including Local Transport Plan (LTP) 5 and the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) will set new standards for moving around the city, connecting people with their communities, local businesses and each other in a way which is accessible, healthy and sustainable.

The key principals of LTP5 were agreed last month and we’ll be consulting on both of these important documents later in the year.

Last year, the city held its first Climate Assembly which focused on travel and transport. Those taking part made it clear that the council should do more to encourage car-free travel and support walking and cycling.

Listening and engaging 

Amy Heley, Chair of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability committee said: “I’d like to thank the thousands of people who responded to the public consultation we launched in February. Travel and transport affects everyone who lives, visits or works in our city and it’s vital we are all given the chance to have our say.

“The government was clear that a consultation is not the same as a referendum – and that we should be looking at ways we can improve existing active travel infrastructure, so more people can get around safely and easily.

"So as a result of the feedback from the consultation, we have now proposed changes to the temporary schemes, so they can keep improving. 

“People have also said that they want us to take action to address concerns they have - about issues like road safety, air quality and congestion, all reflecting what we heard at the city’s Climate Assembly last year. We’ll continue to listen and engage, and respond to this feedback.

“There are so many ways we can support our city into the future and to recover from the pandemic. Active, sustainable and inclusive travel is a part of this, as it remains key to our health and wellbeing, as well as helping us to reach our goal of being carbon neutral by 2030.

"We want everyone in our city to have access to sustainable travel options that will support healthy living, cleaner air, and safer communities."

Background

In November 2020, we were awarded an additional £2.376m from the Department for Transport’s Active Travel Fund to support new travel options for the city. The government has created this fund to boost cycling and walking in line with their national vision. 

This funding award was in addition to the £663,000 we were awarded in June, which was used to install temporary cycle lanes on the A259, Old Shoreham Road, widen footways in parts of the city and deliver other emergency transport measures following government instruction that councils must do more to enable safe travel in the pandemic.

Find out more about the work we have already done.

In December, a special meeting of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability committee approved a consultation plan, setting out the ways we will meaningfully consult with the public and stakeholders on these proposals before work continues. 

A public consultation was held between 1 February and 14 March 2021.