Brighton promises to action to cut air pollution as EU fines are threatened and councillor Pete West says new developments must minimise motor journeys and pay for sustainable transport

3 July 2012. A Brighton and Hove City Council press release predicted measures to cut pollution, caused mainly by motor vehicles - and avoid the risk of EU pollution fines.

Chair of the environment committee Councillor Pete West said: "Hazardous air quality caused by vehicles remains a stubborn problem. This is one reason why we're so keen to help people use alternatives to the car. That means making it safer and more pleasant to walk and cycle. We also need to ensure buses aren't caught in queues of cars so that public transport provides a quicker alternative. It would also be good to see more low-emission buses, lorries and vans.

On Thursday, will Greens accept the Local Transport Plan made by the old Tory-led council?

Core Development Areas (LTP3-App 3)

24 May. The delayed Local Transport Plan (LTP) will be presented to a Special meeting of Brighton and Hove City Council on Thursday 26 May 2011.

This LTP was devised under the just-demised Tory leadership of the council. So is the LTP full of plans to remove cycle lanes and turn green spaces into parking spaces? Not at all. In fact, the Plan makes it sound like the Tories had a Road to Damascus Moment and converted to the Green Cause. Here is the vision statement:

“To deliver an integrated, accessible and balanced transport system that supports economic growth and enables people to travel around and access services as safely and freely as possible while minimising damage to the environment and contributing to a safer, cleaner, quieter and healthier city.”

OK, no mention of the "sustainable" word in the vision statement, but plenty inside.

The LTP is a truly awesome document in hundreds of pages. A quick scan (link below) shows how transport planning impacts many aspects of our lives - housing, how we go to school, work and shop, what our cities look and feel like. Air quality affects our health, traffic affects our enjoyment of the urban environment. Our economy depends on how transport flows - not just how quickly, with billions being lost by traffic jams - but also how enjoyable the experience is, with some high streets being blighted by noisy dangerous traffic, and others boosting retail trade with safe enjoyable pedestrian areas like New Road in Brighton.

UK's local authorities are supposed to work to 12 year strategic plans, and the last one (LTP2) was drafted in 2000. So a new one (LTP3) was supposed to be agreed by the end of March 2011. But the council administration was in a turmoil - with the possibility of council opposition defeating the LTP just weeks before the May local election - so everyone agreed to delay considering the LTP until after the election.

Well, as we now know, the Tories lost, and the Greens won the election by a margin that surprised everybody.

So the LTP becomes almost the second major policy document to be debated by a the Green-led council. (The first item on the agenda is councillors' allowances - Green promised to scrap these as part of thier election promises).

Although created under the demised Tory administration, the LTP is supposed to be non-political, being drawn up in the best interests of the city by council officers. But, as we experienced over four years of Tory admin, council officers are susceptible to political pressure - as the sad demise of Old Shoreham Road Cycle Freeway, Valley Gardens project, etc etc bears witness. Many of these were components of the last (2000) LTP2.

Back in November I did query the questions asked in the public consultation that formed part of the LTP. For example, there was no clear question that asked: Do you favour a clear commitment to Sustainable Transport?" The closes we got was:

"To reduce the need to travel  - and enable people to travel more sustainably."

The the above, 73% agreed,  21% neither agreed nor disagreed, 6.5% disagreed. So what part of that sentence did they disagree to? This is a trickster question. It is important, because the the LTP bases it's priorities on the results of public consultation. Other policies had higher approval so these get given priority.

My sources tell me this new LTP3 is masterpiece of worthy generalisation, which would have allowed a Tory administration to adapt the sustainable-sounding plan to its nefarious ends, while still being fit for the purpose of securing government funding.

But the good thing about this vague kind of Plan is that it allows the incoming Green administration an equal flexibility.

The word is that it will be adopted by council on Thursday.

In any event, delay would be extremely uncomfortable - government funds will not be forthcoming until the LTP is agreed. Local highway authorities have a statutory requirement to produce a Local Transport Plan [LTP] as part of the process to secure government grant funding. The current LTP expired at the end of March 2011 and the third LTP [LTP3] for Brighton & Hove was supposed to be in place by the beginning of April 2011.

Click link here for downloadable copies of LTP3. The details are in Appendix 3 and 4.

With no money in the budget, can policy alone achieve Sustainable Transport in Brighton and Hove

heroknight.blogspot.com

On Thursday (21 May) the UK's first Green council administration was voted into power by a full meeting of the city council in Brighton and Hove. The council officers are said to be overjoyed to be working with a Green administration and bursting with ideas of how to implement the local Green manifesto. How exciting, you might think, now we can put all those sustainable transport plans into action? Not quite. There is no money at all for new capital projects in the council's Transport budget, so this rules out infrastructural changes.

But not everything needs money. Significant change might be achieved through policy decisions alone. I've been chatting to activists, consultants and councillors about what can be done. Above all, what the city needs is a detailed sustainable transport plan. Some policy changes might be effective in the short term:

1. 20 mph default across the city. Signage is expensive, and planning is needed, eg where higher speeds are needed. But on the face of it, 20mph default should cost almost nothing.Some big signs as you enter the city, possibly enforced by sub-contracted commission-paid officers presently engaged in parking ticketing. 20 mph will make other transport options more attractive by slowing traffic - and if people use other transport options, traffic will be less and journey times may even end up being shorter - even by car. We can visit Portsmouth and ask them how they did it.

2. Planning suburban traffic around 'semi permeable cells'. Suburban areas can be planned so 'rat-run' type traffic speeding through residential roads (and endangering children) is blocked. This is done by 'semi permeable' barriers such as one-way streets and bollards, creating cells with limited access to cars but open to walkers, cyclists and public transport. Cars can only enter via a few roads. Cells are linked by traffic arteries. So if you want to travel by car from suburb to neighbouring suburb, you need to drive out of your cell onto a connecting road (such as a ringroad) and back into the neighbouring cell. In Dutch cities this type of planning means that short journeys are much more convenient by foot, or cycle or public transport.

3. Speed up bus transport. We need rapid buses on strategic routes. It is ridiculous that it takes an hour to travel from Aldrington to Hollingbury or Falmer by bus - but 15 minutes by car or taxi. Brighton's main bus company is a near-monopoly that runs huge buses on centralised routes that suit them. Encourage more independent bus services to bid for routes that communities help to plan. Set up a council-led community bus service so that a self sustaining community service can evolve. Policy decision and encouragement may be all that is needed here.

4. Invest in planning. The budget inherited from the Tories allocates £4.5m to improving car parks. This can be put off for a little while. Invest the money into making a unified transport plan for the city. Maybe we won't need these car parks in these places if we do a proper plan.

5. Look at best practice. Let's talk to the Dutch. We may even find the EU will help pay for consultation with people who have already made sustainable transport work. EU funding is allocated to Brighton and Hove for sustainable transport - this was used to pay for the cycle counters installed last year. Better to use this money for planning than for cycle counters.

6. Central Government has set up a £560million Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF). Brighton and Hove applied for grant funding from this, during the previous Tory administration. But the proposal involved scant community consultation and I have not yet seen it - I'm hoping to soon. It is said to involve the Lewes Road corridor, which has issues of heavy traffic, poor air quality and a dangerous cycle route.

Background

When voters reacted against the Labour government and let a Tory minority administration take power in 2007, the city suffered four years of mean spirited self interest that clearly saw sustainable development as a threat to the Tory way of life - especially the right to drive and park cars everywhere. The Tories leaned on the city's planners, and tore the heart out of the city's sustainable transport plans by cancelling the core elements of it, for example the city centre Valley Gardens project, Old Shoreham Road cycle freeway and Marine Parade cycle lane. In January 2011 they actually tried to repeal the council's commitment to sustainable transport.


Tory admin was voted out of power in the 5 May local elections, and the voters have entrusted the city to a new group of Green councillors. But the period of freely available funds is over. We will long regret the damage done to our city by the Tory failure to take the golden opportunity during the decade of unfettered funding.

The budget inherited by the Green administration from the Tories imposes £23million of cuts on the council. This is due to cuts in funding from central government. More cuts are indicated in future years?

Greens now biggest party on Brighton and Hove City Council after elections today

Greens are now the largest party on Brighton & Hove City Council after election results today. This is the first time a local council in the UK has elected the Greens as the largest party.

People voted Green across Brighton & Hove. Greens held all their seats and gained 10 more for a total of 23 Green councillors, making them the largest group of on the council, and the largest Green group of councillors in the country.

It’s a huge vote of confidence in the Greens. Green convenor Bill Randall said, “The the city has listened to the Greens and we have listened to the city. Greens will now sit down and plan how to take the city forward in these difficult times."

Bill Randall said: “The next step is for us to talk to other parties about how we will work with them and implement our manifesto pledges at a very challenging time for local government budgets."

Key Green wins included:
• Goldsmid returned three Greens, winning one seat each from Labour and Conservatives. Alex Phillips, Ruth Buckley and Rob Jarret were elected.
• Brunswick & Adelaide returned two Greens. It was previously LibDem stronghold
• Queens Park returned three Greens, despite determined efforts by Labour to win back the three seats they lost in 2007.
• Regency returned two Greens - up by one.
• Hollindean And Stanmer had three labour councillors - now they have one. The other two seats were taken by Green candidates Sven Rufus and Christina Summers.
• Conservatives lost another seat to Greens in Central Hove.

• Safe Green Wards St Peters & N Laine, and Preston Park returned three Greens each.

I spent an exciting day at Hove Town Hall watching the vote being counted. Here is my video of council leader Bill Randall after the results were announced.


For full results see the Council Website
http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1244854

OPINION: Will Brighton & Hove get away with scrapping the cycling dream and keeping the money?

Clock Tower Approaches

Audit and evaluation of The Cycle Demonstration Town by the seaside

Cycling England is set to close on March 31. But there may yet be a few twitches from the corpse of the body that was supposed to promote cycling in England. After it closes, the work of the monitoring and evaluating the work done in Cycle Cities and Towns, funded by Cycling England grants, will continue for some time.

So we’ve yet to hear the reports of what happened to Brighton and Hove’s Cycle Town scheme, where key components were scrapped.

Despite its apparent commitment to being a Cycling Town (link below), Brighton and Hove, where I live, is in the grip of a minority Tory council administration which in January declared its intention to “repeal” the city’s decade long commitment to promoting sustainable transport, and instead to combat “unfair penalisation of car drivers”.

Over the last year or so, the council has cancelled key elements in the plan for a network of protected cycle lanes that lay at the heart of the Cycling Demonstration Town scheme. The scheme was paid for by Cycling England grants and cost around of £4.5 million including partial grant matching from the city.

In February the Conservatives proposed a budget including plans to demolish The Drive Cycle Freeway in February - which cuts across the driveways of Tory heartland in Hove. Council Leader Mary Mears she said there were no fears the council would have to refund the money to Cycling England because “that quango is about to be abolished.”

Of course Mary Mears is mistaken. She will have to account for it because it is public money. But since her council now no longer has to answer to a “Non Departmental Public Body” like Cycling England, but rather to the Department of Transport under the political control of Liberal Democrat MP for the nearby town of Lewes, Secretary of State Norman Baker, one wonders whether the evaluation procedures applied will be as rigorous as they might have been when Cycling England was alive.

Cyclists in Brighton and Hove are incensed by the apparent diversion of resources intended for a cycling infrastructure that was supposed to encourage thousands of school children to cycle to school. Where are the protected cycle lanes planned for Old Shoreham Road and London Road? Where are The Drive’s safe interchanges and connections with the north of the city and the South Down’s National Park?

We draw scant comfort from the fact that the Department will continue to fund Bikeability (cycle training for children) for four years from 2011 – 2015, and to fund safe routes to school and Bike Club in 2011/12. These programmes encourage children to cycle to school, but I know from cycling The Old Shoreham Road myself that this is asking for trouble when there are no safe cycling lanes. Kids are forced to cycle along the pavement because it is too dangerous along the road. And cycle casualties are increasing in the city.

The council has cancelled the important backbone of protected cycle freeways, and instead painted white lines on the road or designated cycle lanes on peripheral routes, such as Madeira Drive, which is actually closed during peak summer periods. (more>>>)

A Fresh Start for a Fair City

Green Party candidates for local elections at Manifesto launch

18 March 2010. The Green Party launched its bid to become the UK's first Green led council in the UK in local elections in Brighton and Hove on 5 May. Offering a list of thirteen priorities over the next four years, the manifesto is headed by a pledge to resist the service cuts and privatisation imposed by the Conservative and Lib Dem Government.

I designed the Manifesto document, drafted the press release and photographed the event.

The manifesto 'Fresh Start for a Fair City' is available as a PDF file: here

It says, "In May 2011 we have the opportunity to win more seats and maybe even lead the council."

"In these difficult circumstances Green councillors will do their very best for the city," says Green Party Convenor Councillor Bill Randall.

"We can't stop the cuts made at source by the Coalition, but we will fight them all the way, oppose any attempt to further privatise local services and tackle the inequalities that tarnish this city. "

"We realise many of our Manifesto plans cannot be implemented immediately because the city is starved of cash. But we will not abandon our aspirations, because they offer practical solutions to the challenges the city faces.

"Only Greens are committed to open book working with other political parties, the trade unions, third sector and voluntary organisations and residents to meet the challenges ahead. (more>>>)

Green councillors' petition forces debate on cycle lane safety in Hove

Alex Phillips collecting signatures

22 March 2011. Green councillors Ian Davey and Alex Phillips will present a 3500-strong petition on the threatened Hove cycle lanes for debate at this Thursday’s Full Council meeting. It comes after the Tory administration revealed plans to spend £1.1m removing the lanes.

The councillors will also be seeking council support for a series of safety recommendations. These will secure the future of the cycle lane by examining safety concerns and completing missing links to enable cyclists to access it safely.

Councillor Davey said: “The public have expressed overwhelming support for retaining these cycle lanes on The Drive and Grand Avenue. We are calling on the Conservative administration to respond by releasing the safety audits into the public domain and to commit to addressing any safety concerns that exist.”

“We would also like to see improved access by finishing links to the north, and work completed around a cycle lane along the Old Shoreham Road - which also had significant public support. We hope that the Conservative administration will take this opportunity to once and for all commit not to digging up these lanes.

“Money would be better spent improving rather than scrapping cycle infrastructure in this city.”

Cllr Phillips said: “Let's give people the choice to be able to ride their bike on the road, and make cycling safer and easier so that we can truly become the cycle town we were once accredited for being.” (more >>>)

Leader of the Greens calls for safer roads after claims council was waiting for higher casualities

On Friday 18 March 2011, the leader of the UK Green Party Caroline Lucas joined a protest staged by group of parents and school children, calling for safer crossings on the busy Surrenden Road in Brighton. Shockingly, protest organiser Fiona McWilliam said a councillor had told her that council policy was to wait until there were sufficient causalities.

I made this video of the event.


Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas is also MP for Brighton Pavilion and resident in the ward. She said Green Councillor Amy Kennedy had been campaigning for a crossing for years.

Caroline Lucas said: "We need a crossing here urgently beause literally thousands of children are trying to get to the schools here. You can just see as you stand here it's an absolute nightmare. Parents would dearly love to send their kids to school by walking but they're afraid to. You really take your life in your hands if you cross this road. No change from the council, we've been pressing for a 20mph limit, still no action from the council. That's why we really do need to change the council in May, make sure there's more Greens in it."

Over 30 parents, children and Green Party campaigners staged the protest. Originally the plan had been to levy a voluntary toll on motorists, but organiser Fiona McWilliam said she had decided that was too dangerous. They contented themselves with waving placards instead. Many of the motorists hooted their support.

Mother of five Fiona McWilliams said "we literally take our lives in our hands every morning". She has written numerous letters to the council, and had a letter from one of the councillors who said council policy was to wait until there had been several accidents, but that she had recent news the council has now changed their policy assess the risk to children.

Transport spokesman for the Brighton and Hove Green Party Ian Davey said: "Residents are calling for a 20mph speed limit and introduction for a safer crossing. We're calling for something to be done now."

Victory for opposition to Conservative Budget - and The Drive Cycle lane is safe for now

UPDATE 11pm. Earlier tonight Brighton and Hove's Conservative Budget was voted down by combined Green/Labour opposition and Green/Labour amendments were voted through. Full analysis is promised in tomorrow's Argus, but so far as The Drive Cycle lane goes: it is safe for the time being.

Highlights of the amendments pushed through by Green/Labour councillors:

* Council tax will be frozen rather than dropped by 1% as the Conservatives proposed

* The Drive/Grand Avenue (D2) cycle lane won't be demolished (at cost £1.1m).

* Residents parking permits won't be reduced


* Additional funding est. at £2.5m will be available for front line services including school support, care, community safety etc.

The Greens lost their bid to allocate £200,000 to planning for a sustainable city. They couldn't get agreement with the other two major parties. The parties wanted the £200,000 spent as follows (according to Brighton Argus, whose reporter Tim Ridgeway provided excellent on-line live coverage of the budget, well done Argus):
"Tories - spend a small amount on new library books, money for a bus study and for sports development
Labour - for works on Brighton seafront east of palace pier
Greens - to support the planning team which they see as vital for the future growth of city."

Personally, I can't wait for a Green controlled council - just imagine what a city planned around sustainable development - rather than ad-hoc fixes - might look like, and be like to live in.

Green Councillors and Candidates outside Brighton Town Hall 3 March 2011

Cycle protesters join the Brighton Stop the Cuts protest as Greens and Labour vow to overturn Conservative budget

Left, Stop the cuts march in Hove, Cllr Bill Randall on the right

3 March 2011. Cyclists protesting cycle lane closures joined the Stop the Cuts protest outside Brighton Town Hall today, as Greens and Labour promised to overturn the Conservative budget.

The budget proposes £34m in cuts, and reduction in council tax of 1% with loss of hundreds of jobs in front line services - while spending £1.1m on ripping out cycle lanes and building doing up car parks. Prominent among the marchers were Green Councillors. Councillor Bill Randall, leader of the Greens, said, as he went into the full council meeting at 4.30 pm: "Greens and Labour will overturn this budget."

Speakers in front of Brighton Town Hall, Cyclists bring up the rear of the march

Around a dozen cyclists met outside Hove Town Hall at 3pm and cycled to King's House, along the Drive, where they joined other
cyclists among over 100 Stop the Cuts protesters. The protest march was led by the deep blue banner of Brighton and Hove Unison, and followed by banners and placards of the GMB, Brighton and Hove Green Party, National Union of Teachers, the Socialist Party, Brighton & Hove Unemployed Workers, Benefits Campaign and others.

Green alternative budget proposes cutting jobs of top council executives

The Green Party proposes an alternative budget "to reverse cuts, save jobs and introduce sustainable ways of funding the council". One of the funding proposals is to cut top jobs at top level of the council.

Yesterday, Green councillors were blocked from a radical proposal that "the council's four strategic directors, who earn approximately £125,000 each, be removed in favour of increased funding for the Connexions youth careers and advice service which has been subject to major cuts".

Green finance spokesperson Cllr Jason Kitcat said: "However skilled these strategic directors are, they're an expensive layer of management that the council simply cannot afford in the face of the unprecedented cuts the Conservative-led government is imposing on us. We are deeply disappointed we have been blocked by the Tory administration and senior officers from even discussing this proposal. This unwelcome move by the Tories and their appointed, unaccountable bureaucrats makes a mockery of local democracy."

"Our alternative budget would make council spending fairer, reduce the impact of the cuts and improve our position for future years. The Tories nationally are cutting our funding to the bone, while locally they are spending everything they've got in a desperate attempt to win over the electorate this May," said Jason.

"We are doing everything we legally can to minimise harm, set the groundwork for positive future projects and protect public services while voicing our anger at this Conservative-Lib Dem government's callous cuts."

Key items in it include:
* £924,000 of recurring funding being put back into services for Children, Young People & Families including Educational Psychologists and the Connexions careers & advice service.
* £500,000 to kick-start investment in solar panels for council homes and offices, which would create free electricity for tenants and new revenue through the ‘Feed in Tariff' for renewable energy generation.
* £450,000 for a new reserve to deal with the risks of the major changes proposed to services for Adult Social Care and Children, Young People & Families.
* £40,000 to pilot a residential food waste collection scheme.
* £25,000 to fund extra noise patrol shifts in the city.
* £15,000 more in grants to voluntary organisations in the city.
* £26,000 saved from removing catering for meetings councillors attend and £18,000 saved by reforming the system of councillor allowances.

The full Green Alternative Budget can be viewed online at: http://bit.ly/greenbudget

The Evidence: the Conservative plan to reverse sustainable transport in favour of the car

Agenda Item 72(b) Conservative

Many people have responded to my postings off this site with bafflement (Guardian story). Why would any administration want to demolish a world class cycle freeway, flagship of an award winning sustainable transport policy in progressive Brighton and Hove? The uncomfortable answer is contained in a council motion which never saw the light of day - because it was withdrawn in the face of combined Labour and Green opposition on the council. It is Council Agenda Item 72(b) 27 January 2011.

People ask if there is another side to this story, something I haven't told them. I tried to to get the council, or the leadership, to supply evidence of need to close the lane, but they declined (see my story Rubbing Salt in the Wound, below). A Green spokesman says there is no public consultation, traffic demand or other needs assessment. Some residents are concerned about driveways crossing the cycle lane, but these are countered by supporters of the lane. Some say a survey was conducted but this has not been made public. So we are left presuming that we are dealing with a political ideology (out of sync with national Tory pro-sustainable policy) or simply the personal preference and convenience of a small group of conservative councillors whose party won only 37% of the vote in 2007 local elections. But I'm repeating myself.

To the evidence. Over the past year cancellation of cycling schemes could be explained away by lack of money and safety concerns over watered down specs. (The strategic Old Shoreham Road Cycle Freeway scheme and cancellation of the Grand Parade National Cycle Network link). But these didn't necessarily amount to evidence of hostility to sustainable transport and cycling. Yes, I'm coming to that

In January 2011, the Tory admin put a motion to council that would effectively reverse the 11-year-old Local Transport Plan that committed Brighton and Hove to achieve a shift toward 'sustainable transport' - a policy that would improve public transport, cycling and walking facilities, improve the unban environment and promote electric transport. I have a copy of that motion, and I include the link below. Greens and Labour combined to vote the motion down. But the language of Council Agenda Item 72(b) is worth noting:

1. Rule out introducing any further measures which unfairly penalise car drivers under the guise of promoting "sustainable transport".
2. At the earliest opportunity, repeal the provisions in policy CP8 of the Core Strategy (sustainable transport) which promote "car free housing", "fiscal measures" and "modal shift".

If we are repealing the commitment toward promoting modal shift, we are ending moves to get people to change the way they travel. OK, here it is.
Click for Link to Agenda Item 72(b) Conservative Motion 'Promote Choice...
The motion was withdrawn when the Conservatives saw the amendments proposed by thhe Green/Labour opposition
Click for Link to Agenda item 729b) Labour/Green Party amendments.

Save Hove Cycle Lanes: Rubbing salt into the wound

Protesters outside BH council offices

Conservatives confirmed their determination to demolish a flagship cycle freeway in Brighton and Hove and a “Save The Drive Cycle Lane” protest is launched. Russell Honeyman asks: “Why?”

22 February 2011. Last night the Conservative leader of minority controlled Brighton and Hove City Council confirmed her determination to demolish a flagship cycle freeway in the seaside town of Hove.

In response to my question about whether the plans would go ahead despite protests, Council leader Mary Mears said: “The proposal to remove the cycle lane from Grand Avenue and The Drive responds to concerns raised by residents and users alike … We remain committed to the safety of the cycling fraternity. Unlike some other cycle lanes in the city, the Grand Avenue/Drive scheme is not well used or appreciated. Furthermore its removal will improve traffic flow along the coast road from Shoreham Harbour and across the city.”

We’re talking about something rather more than a simple cycle lane. It is a “European-style cycle freeway”, for the most part segregated from traffic by being set into the pavement behind the on street parking. It was completed in 2008 as the centrepiece of Brighton and Hove’s successful bid to become a Cycle Demonstration Town, with £3million of government funding provided by Cycling England in the glory days of 2005. It is part of the infrastructure that won the Transport Authority of the Year award only last year, when the council was commended for cycling improvements that saw cycling in the city increase by 27% since 2006.

The route connects with the newly created South Downs national park with Hove’s seafront. It runs for around 4km, southwards from Downs access point at Dyke Railway Trail, to the sea via Hove station. The segregated cycle freeway section runs for a little under two kilometres along Grand Avenue and The Drive, this last section a wide double lane carriage way lined by classic Palladian-style mansion blocks until finally opening out onto Hove Lawns beneath a statue of Queen Victoria. With its rail connection and access to the Downs, the route forms part of strategic plans to improve access to the Downs and seafront as well as promoting cycling in the city.

The Tory administration wants the southern, freeway style section demolished – at the cost of £1.1m, according to budget proposals released 11 February.

There has been a chorus of protest from across the country, and fury from the sustainable transport community. The fury has been building for some time. Since Conservatives gained control of the council in 2007 they have cancelled successive components of the city’s plans for transport improvements, most notably the Old Shoreham Road scheme which was to have provided an east-west segregated cycle freeway linking the centres of Brighton, Hove and Portslade, and Marine Parade which was to have filled in the “missing link” in the national cycle route along the seafront. (click for more...)

Original Plans for Hove's "The Drive" Cycle Freeway

People have been asking for details of the cycle lane that's causing all the fuss. I downloaded original plan from the council website in case it disappears.

It is clear to see the strategic thinking behind the cycle freeway. At the top, the South Downs, now a new national park. At the bottom, the popular Brighton and Hove Sea front. In the middle: Hove Station, a pretty station with access to mainline train services and with capacity for more traffic.

You can see the connection with the National Cycle Network N2 seafront cycle lane. It has obvious strategic importance for tourism and local leisure travel.

What you can't see is the other major component of this cycle freeway network: The Old Shoreham Road (OSR), which was to have connected the town centres of Portslade, Have and Brighton, allowing 7,000 school children to cycle safely to school. The Tories watered down the "segregated Cycle Freeways" on the OSR scheme - reduced them to painted lines on the road. And then announced the scheme was unsafe and cancelled it!

It is worth noting the Tory admin is not saying they will eliminate the cycle lane. Just remove the 'segregated cycle freeway' bit of it.

This is what the Council Website says about the cycle lane network today:

Cycling



Cycling in Brighton & Hove has grown substantially over recent years. (27% increase recorded in the 2006-2008 period.)

But a large proportion of city workers using a car to get to work drive less than three miles. So there is great potential for increasing safe cycling - and to bring other individual and wider-level benefits.
What the council is doing

As a Cycling Town, the city council is dedicated to promoting healthy and environmentally friendly travel.

There are many cycle lanes across the city, including along the seafront, Grand Avenue and The Drive, Hove to Hangleton, and Lewes Road. Many are part of the national and regional cycle route network.

A north south cycle freeway has been completed and provides a link between the Downs, from the Dyke Railway Trail in Hangleton to the seafront via Hove station. The southern section along Grand Avenue and The Drive (pictured above, far right) is a segregated, motor-vehicle free, European-style cycle freeway. Additional cycle parking places are also being installed city-wide.

Brighton & Hove's popular suite of cycle maps was updated in 2010. A further update will be available early 2011.

The maps include details of local bike businesses, bike hire, training and maintenance providers, cycle interest groups and clubs, information on cycle safety, and much more.

Conservatives plan to put transport into reverse in Brighton and Hove

Conservatives councillors - who have minority control of Brighton and Hove City Council - "are shifting transport policy firmly into reverse,” a Green councillor said of the council’s budget proposals released on Friday, 11 February 2011.

Brighton & Hove City Council’s budget for the coming year boasts of reducing council tax, and announces cuts of over £34 million, involving cuts to front line services. Yet the budget proposes spending £4.5 million on improvements to car parks, and £1.2 million removing the protected cycle lane along the Drive, Hove, which was part of the city's flagship "Cycling City" scheme.

Green Transport spokesperson councillor Ian Davey said the Conservative administration was "wasting public money on ill thought out transport projects".

Councillor Davey said it was only three years since the council spent over half a million pounds of public money on installing the cycle lanes. "Now they plan to spend more than twice as much taking it out. At the same time they are planning to spend £4.5million on doing up car parks. In good times such expenditure would be questionable. In times of austerity this proposal is grossly irresponsible. The Tories clearly do not have a coherent vision for transport in this city. Their ill thought out proposals, combined with their cuts to staff numbers including those in road safety, will only worsen the problems of traffic congestion, air pollution and road safety that blight this city. They are shifting transport policy firmly into reverse.”

Cyclists plan action against cycle lane closure in Brighton & Hove: Sat 19 Feb 2011

Green Councillor Ian Davey announced a "mini action" to protest against the planned closure of the Drive cycle lane - cyclists and others will meet on  Saturday 19th February at 12 noon.

Councillor Davey said: "Support the campaign to stop the scrapping of the cycle lane on The Drive in Hove. Join us at the corner of The Drive and Cromwell Road for a mini action. Don't forget your bike."

He also asked those who support the campaign to sign a petition at
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43064.html .

Brighton and Hove city council is controlled by a minority Conservative administration that over the past year has cancelled a series of pro-cycling initiatives in the City, including the strategic Old Shoreham Road Cycle Lane Scheme which had funding from Cycling England.

The administration's 2011 budget, released Friday 11 Feb, revealed plans to spend £1.1m removing the cycle lanes. The reason cited for the removal is "In order to improve the visual impact and traffic flow along this important north – south corridor including access to the A27 / A23 from the A259 /Shoreham Harbour".

A press release issued by Green transport spokesperson Cllr Ian Davey and Goldsmid ward councillor Cllr Alex Phillips said the Conservative administration is wasting public money and increasing danger to road users and residents.

Cllr Davey said: "They claim to be responding to residents' safety concerns, yet casualties have reduced since the cycle lanes went in. Widening the road will increase both traffic speed and volume. The Tories are encouraging its use as a route to and from Shoreham Harbour. Much of this traffic will be heavy vehicles. The proposals will make this road more dangerous for all road users and residents and rob families of a safe cycle route to the seafront."

The Drive cycle lanes are protected lanes that divide cyclists from motor traffic. They were part of a long term project to increase sustainable transport and cycling in the city, and were part funded with money from Cycling England. Cllr Davey said: “These cycle lanes were put in by the same Conservative administration in 2008 at a cost of over £600,000. To spend nearly twice as much now taking them out again is sheer madness."

Green ward councillor Alex Phillips added: "With the council strapped for cash for vital services, there are better ways to spend this money.”

The future Brighton: Motor City or Green City?

Pic: sustainablecitiesnet.com

City launches public consultation over Local Transport Plan
Brighton & Hove has launched a public consultation to discuss the future of transport. It seems to avoid asking the crucial question: should we to prioritise sustainable transport or not?

Most people say they would would prefer to use fast public transport, but private motor car is simply safer and easier to use in Brighton & Hove. Our streets are clogged with polluting cars, while public transport takes way too long and cycling is unsafe on many routes. We are stuck thinking there is no way ahead. Yet some European cities have shown there is a different way.

We need a policy decision to change things for the better, and we now have the chance. On October 29, the City Council opened a public consultation to discuss its forthcoming "Local Transport Plan". This will close on December 10. The Plan is the strategy document that will define how planners will develop infrastructure for roads, buses, cycling, rail and other ways of getting about for the coming decades.

Sitting on the Fence: Green City or Motor City?
I answered the on-line Plan consultation questionnaire. I found it frustrating. I mean, who needs to be asked: "Should we create safe and attractive streets and places that everyone can enjoy?" Surely everyone's the answer to that is: "Yes!"

The real question that needs to be asked is: "Do you want sustainable transport? Should Brighton & Hove to be a Motor City or a Green City?"

The City needs to make a fundamental decision: should the Plan give priority to sustainable transport, as has been done in other cities? My opinion is we do not want to continue to prioritise motor transport, for reasons of air pollution, personal fitness and safety, let alone climate control and global warming.

We need a bold policy decision to rearrange transport priorities resulting in fast public transport and safe cycling. At present, buses take over an hour to travel a few miles from one end of the city to the other. Cycle routes are crowded out by traffic and children have to cycle to school on the pavement. This needs to change. Priority needs to be given to sustainable transport. This is not rocket science. Look at any number of cities in Germany, Netherlands, Denmark. Cycling is an important component, but the key is fast, reliable public transport.

At present people jump into their cars to make short journeys to the shops, beach, school. When people find their car is less convenient, they will use fast buses, or safe, fast, cycle routes. We can develop tailor made solutions for our city - buses or trams for steep hills, beachfront rail, etc. At this stage, planning is more the key than money, but in later stages investment in pubic transport may help revive the city economy.

But policy half measures and lip service to the vision of sustainable transport are strangling public transport in Brighton at present.

Brighton's claim to being a city of excellent cycling and public transport: lip service
Take a look at Old Shoreham Road by Hove Park during the rush hour. School kids struggling to cycle along "pedestrian only" foot paths while aggressive drivers push and shove their cars along the narrow roadway. Public transport is at a standstill. It takes an hour by bus to travel the few miles from Aldrington to Patcham. Fifteen minutes by car. The solution seems obvious. If everyone uses cycles or public transport, it will be safe and fast to get to work on the bus or bike.

The council is effectively controlled by a Tory minority, and they are pro-motor car. The 2009 public consultation about the Old Shoreham Road Cycle Lane showed the public wanted a cycle lane, but the public also warned the scheme as planned was unsafe. The Council was suggesting that 7,000 school-kids would use the Cycle Lane to get to school, but the lane was simply lines painted on the road amid heavy traffic. Traffic simply ignores these painted lines in most other parts of the city. The public wanted the scheme improved to include protected cycle lanes. This would mean reducing room for motor cars. Cars would have to use the bypass, taking longer to get about the city. Rather than improve the scheme, the Council scrapped it.

You only have to read the text below, from an academic paper, to see why Old Shoreham Road (OSR) scheme could not have succeeded: "separate cycling facilities along heavily travelled roads and at intersections" are needed. The paper was from 2007. So why did Brighton planners put together a scheme that would fail because of safety? Was it planned to fail, by a Tory controlled council who need to show lip service to sustainability but don't really believe in it?

Local Transport Plan: opportunity for a real sustainable transport plan
Brighton & Hove should become the city of excellent public transport and safe cycling that it claims to be. Others have blazed the trail for us. The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany have made public transport fast - the route of choice - and cycling is a safe, convenient and practical way to get around their cities. The key to achieving high levels of cycling appears to be the provision of separate cycling facilities along heavily travelled roads and at intersections, combined with traffic calming of most residential neighbourhoods. Extensive cycling rights of way in the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany are complemented by ample bike parking, full integration with public transport, comprehensive traffic education and training of both cyclists and motorists, and a wide range of promotional events intended to generate enthusiasm and wide public support for cycling. In addition to their many pro-bike policies and programmes, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany make driving expensive as well as inconvenient in central cities through a host of taxes and restrictions on car ownership, use and parking. Moreover, strict land-use policies foster compact, mixed-use developments that generate shorter and thus more bikeable trips. It is the coordinated implementation of this multi-faceted, mutually reinforcing set of policies that best explains the success of these three countries in promoting cycling. Compare with the marginal status of cycling in the UK and the USA, where only about 1% of trips are by bike.

Sounds to good to be true? I didn't make it up. The paragraph is paraphrased from a 2007 academic paper called "Making cycling irresistible". You can download the paper from
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a790578015~tab=content

Sustainable transport could become a flagship of policy in Brighton if the council had the vision or the will. Will it alienate motor car users? I think most of them would welcome viable alternatives to car transport, especially if it is promoted properly. Will it cost money? Not necessarily - significant engineering work might be needed on schemes like OSR, but mostly it is a matter of road use policy and planning.

Note: the Local Transport Plan
Brighton & Hove City Council's new Local Transport Plan (LTP) will set out how it proposes to maintain and improve the city’s transport network. It will outline priorities for transport up to 2026 and how to achieve them. Producing an LTP is a legal requirement and must be completed by April 2011.
The plan will include a 15-year, long-term transport strategy and a short term, three-year delivery plan of specific schemes. Brighton & Hove’s plan will be supporting the five national transport goals: supporting economic growth; tackling climate change; promoting equality of opportunity; contributing to better safety, security and health; and improving quality of life.
The Public Consultation was opened 29 October and closes 10 December 2010.
For more information, and to complete the questionaire, go to: More on the Local Transport Plan

Vaccination uptake increases in Brighton and Hove despite safety worries of some

· One in five Brightonians think MMR is not safe
· MMR2 vaccine uptake increases to 68% in 2009
· “Opportunistic” vaccination at A & E wards under consideration in Brighton and Hove

More than one in five (22% of people) do not believe MMR vaccination is safe, according to a Brighton and Hove 2009 Citizen’s Panel survey. Despite the safety worries, uptake rates are increasing in a city that has historically resisted vaccination. The information was published in a report compiled by City Council Public Health Specialist Barbara Hardcastle in April 2010. The report said “opportunistic” vaccination at A&E wards was under consideration in Brighton and Hove.

821 people responded to the survey. Of those, 201 had children aged under 18. Of these, 73% said their children had received all the immunisations offered. 6.5% said they had received none of the immunisations offered. 14% said they had received some of the vaccinations offered.

When asked why some or all of the vaccinations had been missed, 22.2% (22 people out of 201) said they “didn’t believe MMR was safe.”

65% felt they had been given enough information about the risks of immunisation, while 81% felt they had been given enough information about the risks of not immunising their child.

The report said MMR uptake had been badly affected by the negative press associated with the now discredited Wakefield paper published in the Lancet in the 1998.

In addition, the report said: “There is also a strong “natural health” movement in Brighton and Hove which is anti-vaccination in general and anti-MMR in particular. “
(More ... )

Brighton air pollution kills, and the Argus knows why

The Brighton Argus can produce fearless campaigning journalism, as last week's stories on air pollution in Brighton and Hove showed (Wednesday and Thursday 24, 25 March 2010).

Wednesday's front page headline was "Choking To Death". The story is about air quality levels in Brighton being responsible for over 1,200 deaths annually. The culprits were named as stationary traffic, heavy vehicles and ocean going ships which throng the shipping channel just off Brighton's coast.

The Argus must also be credited with a fearless sense of humour.  Thursday's centre spread feature gave detail to the 1,200 deaths said to result from air pollution. Enclosed within the spread was a 16 page motoring supplement, filled with advertisements for new cars. I did chuckle, grimly.

The Tory-controlled Brighton and Hove Council was blamed for refusing to ban trucks and lorries from the city centre. This was excellent timing because Thursday afternoon was the date of the Council's Environment Cabinet meeting, so it will be fascinating to find out whether a ban on lorries in the city centre will result.

Link to 'Choking to Death' web version.

The first of my stories in the Argus: Cycling!

Ruth Lumley of the Argus kindly pared down my article on cycling. You can see how skilful she is with the sub-editor's knife, when you compare with my original text, below.

Cycle scheme safety criticised by cycle lobby and Greens

Proposed Cycle Scheme Old Shoreham Road to link Brighton, Hove and Portslade
Russell Honeyman, 18 September 2009. russellhoneyman@yahoo.co.uk

680 words.

Cycle lobbyists and Green councillors have criticised the proposed cycle route scheme along the Old Shoreham Road, which would connect town centres in Brighton, Hove and Portslade. They say that it will not be considered safe by the parents of school children who are expected to use the route to cycle to school, and that it is below the standard expected of Brighton and Hove as a “Cycle City”. Initial public consultations for the scheme closed last week.

Brighton and Hove’s Green party condemned the scheme as “next to useless.” In an interview on 18 September 2009, Green Councillor Ian Davey explained: “Old Shoreham road is potentially an excellent place for a ‘cycle freeway’, like that down the Drive, ie, protected by a kerb. What is needed is a high quality, two-meter wide cycle lane; most of Old Shoreham Road is wide enough for that. “

Davey said: “The scheme as proposed is not going to be adequate. Cycle lanes are too narrow and there are huge gaps. Consultation documents anticipate that 7,000 schoolchildren will use this route, that’s a lot of inexperienced cyclists, aged eleven and above. The scheme will not give parents the confidence that their children can safely cycle along this route amongst busy traffic.”

“As proposed, the scheme is a step backwards for cycling. In my opinion, (the council planners) are scared of reducing road capacity for motorised traffic, so they have been tinkering around the edges for the last decade. There are too many useless cycle provisions around the city already. It is better to do a small amount of work well, than a lot badly. It is below the standard of infrastructure if we are to live up to our status as a “Cycle City”, Davey said.

Mr Tony Green, Membership Officer of Brighton-based cycling campaign group, Bricycles, said: "We welcome any improvement for cyclists. But if it is intended to make the route safe for kids to cycle to school, then it's not up to standard." Mr Green objected that the lanes have breaks in them; that they are of varying width, being 1.2 to 1.5m wide; and that the council may find it difficult to stop (motorists) parking in the cycling lanes.

Mr Green added: "Bricycles is about to make a formal response, where we will suggest a single lane (in each direction) for cars, and a 20mph speed limit and an
adequately wide and continuous lane for cycles."

The council’s Head of Transport Planning (Sustainable Transport), Mr David Parker, was at the exhibition. He told the Argus that, at present, most cycle traffic uses the cycle route along the seafront, which is part of the National Cycle Network. This is not convenient for many inland travel routes. Brighton and Hove City Council wants more people to cycle, especially kids to cycling to school. This is not only to reduce carbon emissions, and improve air quality, but also to improve health and reduce obesity. A Personal Travel Planning campaign provides consultations across city, to develop travel plans on an individual basis. Mr Parker left the exhibition on his bike, saying 'practice what you preach."

The proposal, if successful, would see cycle lanes going in each direction along the Old Shoreham Road (A270) from Dyke Road in Brighton, via Goldstone Crescent in Hove, to Applesham Way in Portslade. Two weeks of public exhibitions about the scheme ended on Saturday, 12 September 2009. Members of the public were invited to inspect plans of the scheme, and to consult with Brighton and Hove City Council planning officers. The results of the consultation will now be considered by the Environment Cabinet, which will decide if there is sufficient support to proceed to the next stage of scheme development.

The scheme is part of Brighton and Hove's involvement in the "Cycling Towns" project, in which seventeen towns and cities will receive part of £100 million in funding being provided by Cycling England, an independent body established in 2005 by the Department for Transport.

For more information: contact Brighton and Hove City Council on 01273 290487, website www.brighton-hove.gov.uk