It was a busy Transport and Sustainability committee on Tuesday 3 October as councillors discussed, debated and, ultimately, approved several key recommendations for Brighton & Hove.
Members met at Hove Town Hall to discuss several road improvement and transport schemes, parking charges, carbon neutrality and making school journeys safer for primary school children.
Councillors began the agenda by discussing access changes to Gardner Street.
A Traffic Regulation Order to reopen Gardner Street to motor vehicles Monday to Thursday and pedestrianise it between 11am - 7pm Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays to support businesses was approved.
This followed consultation with businesses in the area, disability groups and a resident who had become isolated in their home.
The reopening will now enable access while still allowing businesses to use the street for things like tables and chairs on Fridays, weekends and Bank Holidays preserving and enhancing the vibrancy of Gardner Street.
Members of the committee approved the start of work to improve a key Brighton & Hove corridor.
They’ve given the go ahead for construction to begin on part of the A23 between Argyle Road and the junction of Stanford Avenue. The work will:
Continuing the theme of improving the city’s roads, members of the committee also asked for work to make junctions and crossings safer in Elm Grove be brought forward. The work will:
The crossing facilities were identified in the city’s top 10 sites last year while the traffic signals needs replacing because of their age.
The committee also approved a recommendation that work on the Hanover and Tarner Liveable Neighbourhood pilot stops as the proposals did not have the full support of local residents.
Residents in parts of the city will be given more options for how they’d like their Controlled Parking Zones (CPZ) to operate going forward.
Following last night’s committee decision on ‘Light Touch’ parking zones, residents in five areas will be asked how they’d like to see parking enforced.
People living in the West Hove, Hove Park, Hanover & Elm Grove, Coombe Road and Wish Road areas of the city will be asked if they’d like to see their current ‘light touch’ parking schemes converted to full schemes.
New on-street parking tariff changes were also agreed for four areas of the city.
Agreed by the Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration committee earlier this year, these reverse planned changes to switch some areas from a low to high tariff.
This applies to Zone C (Queens Park), Zone H (Royal Sussex County Hospital area) and Zone J (London Road Station area). In Zone N (Central Hove) the majority of the zone will be Low Tariff with the exception of Kingsway which will be Medium Tariff.
As well as the above, several other decisions were taken at Transport and Sustainability committee yesterday:
Councillor Trevor Muten, Chair of the Transport and Sustainability committee said: “Tuesday’s meeting was extremely productive with decisions made that will have a positive impact on the people who live, work and visit Brighton & Hove.
“Decisions made will mean big improvements to several roads and junctions while we’ll also be giving residents a bigger say in how their parking schemes are enforced. We are enlarging our city’s dedicated active travel routes and making streets better and safer.
“I’m very pleased to have chaired a committee that will mean on-street parking charge increases near the Royal Sussex County Hospital won’t go ahead and a workable compromise could be found to partially reopen Gardner Street to help a vulnerable resident while still supporting local businesses.
“I am delighted the committee agreed to commence our city’s first carbon neutrality strategy with strategic decarbonisation pathways and clear climate risk and vulnerability assessments for our city. A vital step to determine how Brighton & Hove will reach carbon neutrality. ”
Read more information about what reports were presented to committee members.
