Brighton's Lewes Road Corridor sustainable transport project given the go ahead with £4m of government funding

Cllr Davey leads cycle campaign Feb 2011

5 July 2011. Brighton's Lewes Road Corridor project secured £4m funding from the Department for Transport's Local Sustainable Transport Fund, it was announced today.

The Brighton project was one of 39 sustainable transport schemes across England that were given the go ahead as part of a £155 million Government investment aimed at boosting economic growth and reducing carbon emissions.

Cabinet member for transport in Brighton and Hove City Council, Green councillor Ian Davey, expressed joy at the news. He said the scheme had been suggested by Greens during the previous Tory administration, and it was good news that it was won under the new Green administration: “One of our key aims is to give the city the infrastructure it needs to be open for business. A crucial part of that is sustainable transport, enabling people and goods to move around without spoiling our streets or the air we breathe.

“This is a great opportunity for the council to work with residents and business to alleviate some of the transport problems in the area, particularly poor air quality caused by congestion.”

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesperson said: “It’s part of our ambition to make the city one of the greenest in the UK. Some 66 councils bid for a pot of £155m the government made available. 37 authorities were successful."

With external partnership and council funds, plus support from the local community, the project will be worth approximately £6 million over four years. Key partners in the bid include Southern Rail, Brighton & Hove Buses, Sussex and Brighton Universities, the Primary Care Trust, and the Engineering and Physical Research Council. 

"It will be used to help local people make more eco-friendly transport plans for themselves. Physical alterations to the road will include upgrades to public transport infrastructure, cycling improvements, traffic signal upgrades, pedestrian improvements and improved links to the new South Downs National Park.

An exact timescale for the project has yet to be fixed, but work should start this year. 

The judging panel included buses and transport expert Tony Depledge, Ian Drummond from local government body ADEPT, Stephen Joseph from Campaign for Better Transport, Adam Marshall from the British Chambers of Commerce, Lynn Sloman from Transport for Quality of Life.

Brighton Pavilion's Green MP Caroline Lucas said the news was "fantastic" and a "step in the right direction".

39 projects won funding as part of the first allocation from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund. They cover eight regions and a total of 37 local authorities, with many more as partners. All have been judged to be effective against the fund’s two key objectives of creating growth and cutting carbon.

The successful schemes also include a variety of measures such as smart ticketing, the promotion of infrastructure for electric vehicles, bus and rail improvement measures, cycling and walking and are designed to link together to create a sustainable transport package that delivers economic growth.

Transport Minister Norman Baker said: “I am delighted to be able to fund these excellent projects.

“All the winning schemes have one thing in common – they will help build strong local economies while addressing the urgent challenge of climate change.

“We have empowered local authorities to create packages of sustainable initiatives that are tailored for their local areas, and this is only the beginning – even more funding will be announced next summer following a second round of bids.”

For details of the Brighton and Hove's bid for DfT funds, click here
http://russellhoneyman.blogspot.com/2011/05/brightons-lewes-road-63m-sustainable.html

More on this story from the DfT - http://www.dft.gov.uk/news/press-releases/dft-press-20110705

ConDem coalition's green aspirations dashed against monetarist budget

Green Peace protesters (Guardian)

The UK's coalition government, amusingly nicknamed "ConDem" by opponents who see the UK being condemned to years of misery, included a raft of "green" measures in its budget proposals unveiled yesterday. However, although they speak the green words, they don't deliver. They focus on a traditional economic model of monetarism and "growth is king", when we need to adopt green economic strategies if we are to avert looming environmental disaster.

Caroline Lucas' Guardian blog summarises ways in which the Budget makes green sounds - and then fails to deliver. She says: "The chancellor has missed a huge opportunity to turn environmental necessity to our economic and social advantage and end our dependency on fossil fuels."

Government budget proposals that sound green but do the opposite:
• Green Economy - Set up a Green Bank - but stop it from borrowing
• Sustainable Transport - Scrap the planned tax on air travel, and reduce tax on petrol for cars
• Carbon floor prices: at £30 a tonne, the new levy on carbon will hardly promote low-carbon energy, but  will give nuclear power companies a windfall subsidy
• Zero-carbon homes - change rules so "zero-carbon" homes would in fact create carbon emissions.

Caroline Lucas says: "This budget contains nothing to shift us away from our dependency on oil and gas, nothing to take advantage of the potential of new technologies such as wind, wave and tide, and precious little to encourage investment in renewable industries.

"This is not only bad economics – it is also a huge missed opportunity. Between the extremes of Tory kill-to-be-kind austerity and a return to Labour's debt-fuelled spend-a-thon lies a more subtle alternative: avoiding savage cuts in public spending that could trigger a new recession, but also concentrating that spending where it has the maximum economic, social and environmental benefit.

She describes how this would work. The "green deal" says money invested energy saving (home insulation and domestic solar panels for example) could sustain far more jobs than other forms of government spending, and also reduce fuel poverty, improve health and tackle climate change. "Today, the arguments in favour are stronger, particularly with hikes in regressive taxes such as VAT and cuts in benefits and services leaving the poorest even more vulnerable," she said.

Link to Caroline Lucas Blog

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."

Safe School Crossings protest for Surrenden Road on Red Nose Day

View looking along Surrenden Road toward Draxmont Way

15 March 2011. Worried parents and campaigners will levy a “voluntary toll” on traffic using Surrenden Road on Friday, as Brighton & Hove Green Party calls for safer roads.

Safer Surrenden campaigners will levy the toll on one of Brighton and Hove's busiest roads as a combined protest and Red Nose Day stunt. They will set up a temporary safe crossing for school children at the junction of Surrenden Crescent and Draxmont Way between 8.20 and 8.40am, Friday 18th March 2011.

Fiona McWilliam, newly appointed organiser of the Safer Surrenden campaign said: “At least four children have been hit by vehicles over the past year. Worried parents are hijacking Red Nose Day to highlight the potential danger to children posed by Brighton and Hove Council's reluctance to reduce the 30mph speed limit or install fixed crossings on Surrenden Road. Several of the hundreds of parents and children who struggle to cross this busy road every day will ask fellow residents to pay a voluntary toll at the hazardous junction with Surrenden Crescent and Draxmont Way.”

The nearby Balfour-Varndean-Dorothy Stringer campus is home to four schools, a playgroup and a sixth-form college.

Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, Caroline Lucas, said: “The Safer Surrenden campaign is three years old. Children from six schools nearby cross Surrenden Road. There have been too many recent accidents involving personal injury in the road. It needs safe crossings at a suitable distance from the dangerous bend in the road near Draxmont way (Dorothy Stringer school and Varndean college), and at the Harrington Rd to Bates Rd crossing of Surrenden. The council has blocked attempts by myself and Councillor Amy Kennedy to get a crossing near Dorothy Stringer. (more>>>)