Critics says radical Brighton road scheme is not good enough

The controversial plans to radically alter the one-way system around Valley Gardens include data modelling on current traffic flows but not on pedestrian and cyclists.

An informed source told The Argus: “If you’re trying to incentivise people to be more committed regular users of Valley Gardens on foot or on bikes, then you could argue you need some baseline data.”

The source confirmed speculation published in the Argus yesterday that the council’s traffic modelling has only been conducted Monday to Friday, but said that experts believed that analysis was sufficient.

Meanwhile others have asked why the scheme, which was first proposed by the Greens a year and a half ago, will still not bring the city a dynamic “smart transport” with traffic lights helping the flow of buses.

Yesterday The Argus revealed that the Green administration's plans from March 2015 to widen cycle lanes increase pedestrian access and remove the one way system around Valley Gardens are once again being discussed by Brighton and Hove City Council under the current Labour administration.

A series of meetings are being held with interest groups before the finalised plans will be presented in a report to the city’s transport committee on November 29.

An expert who has been consulted backed the plans, saying: “If you go down to Pavilion Gardens on a hot summer’s day it’ll be rammed with people, but if you try crossing the street into Valley Gardens you’ll find no-one there.

“This will be a massive improvement for the city.”

But, he said while traffic modelling has been conducted for traffic the council has done no modelling for pedestrian movements or cycle movements, adding: “If there’s a gripe, that’s it.”

The proposals would do away with the one-way system which runs south down Grand Parade down to the aquarium roundabout and then north up Marlborough Place and Gloucester Place.

Instead the roads to the west of the parks will run both ways and be reserved exclusively for taxis and buses while private traffic will run both north and south on the east side.

At its narrowest there will only be one lane in each direction.

Yesterday further private consultation meetings were held between council officials and pedestrian and bus groups.

One participant questioned why a long-discussed scheme to create a “smart” transport system in which traffic lights communicated with transceivers in buses to avoid unnecessary delays was not being incorporated into the massive project.

The plan to narrow private traffic to a single lane in each direction was also described as a “gigantic problem” with comparisons made with the delays experienced two years ago when roadworks closed one lane of Grand Parade causing a bottleneck which generated enormous queues.

FIVE YEARS OF STALLING AND STILL WAITING FOR CHANGE

MAJOR projects, much like traffic travelling around our great city, are often fist-clenchingly slow to get off the ground and involve encountering the odd bump in the road.

And the story of the Valley Gardens development certainly fits the bill.

Late in 2011, a vision for how the green heart of the city centre from St Peter’s Church down to the seafront could be improved was first brought to public attention.

The Green lead for transport Ian Davey called for cross-party support for plans that could bring “real change and transformation”.

At the time, the appearance of the gardens was a major talking point as it played host to a major Occupy Brighton camp of tent-dwelling protesters.

It was hoped then that a concept to make the area more attractive, accessible and to reduce traffic could be agreed by March 2013.

But the warnings had already been sounded two years earlier when English Heritage identified Valley Gardens as a conservation area at risk.

The body, now named Historic England, said the area was suffering from neglect, derelict properties, loss of historic detail, poor investment and was blighted by nearby redevelopment sites.

The first concrete proposals to move buses and taxis to the west of the gardens and private traffic to the east were first unveiled in July 2012.

While a number of ideas were put forward by residents and business owners the council said it backed its own view of how to beautify the “visually unattractive” area and simplify its complicated traffic systems.

Cyclist and pedestrian links to the Royal Pavilion, the Brighton Dome and the North Laine were mentioned as well as water features and street wi-fi to make the park more of an attraction for business people and students.

At that time Conservative councillor Graham Cox warned that any proposed changes would need to be “modelled very carefully” to avoid unintended impacts on businesses while Labour’s Alan Robins said the scheme could increase traffic jams and air pollution.

In January 2013, the plans went out to public consultation under the city’s Green council administration with talk of how the expansion of pedestrianised areas would mirror Edinburgh’s historic market place and an event space called Grassmarket would make an attractive meeting space while at the same time improving traffic flow.

One of the scheme’s project managers Jim Mayor said the area was “so muddled and confusing” because it had developed sporadically over the years and that by simplifying the layout, road space would reduce by 25 per cent.

Julian Caddy, director of Brighton Fringe, welcomed the creation of an events space but said the ambitions could be even higher for the public space – calling for planners to use Trafalgar Square as their inspiration.

But not all were cheered by the plans – businesses around Valley Gardens warned that “yet again motorists are being pushed out”.

At this stage, Now fingers were crossed for work to start “later in 2013”.

In March 2013, the proposals were voted through but not without controversy with Green environment committee chairman Councillor Pete West calling for the plans to go back to public consultation because they failed to match what residents had asked for.

Cllr West abstained from the vote, saying the outcome failed to meet the public aspiration for less traffic and greater tranquillity and warned that the gardens would become a giant central reservation.

A year on, the case was made for £8 million of initial Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Government funding.

Concerns were raised that the economic benefits of £39 million over 20 years including advantages from more cycling, walking and fewer car crash victims had been overstated to impress LEP bosses.

Claims that the overhaul would attract investment into other sites such as the Brighton Centre and Black Rock were described as “tenuous”.

Labour’s councillor Gill Mitchell said she favoured prioritising a cut in congestion and pollution in other areas of the city such as the Clock Tower or the seafront over the “cosmetic” improvements to Valley Gardens.

The scheme was subject to a number of specially arranged public meetings featuring each political party’s transport lead along each stage of the funding bid process.

At one of these meetings in February last year, Cllr Mitchell said her group could not support the proposals because they left the council with “too much financial risk” with taxpayers having to meet £3.5 million for the scheme’s three stages as well as bearing the responsibility of paying any overrun costs.

She also warned about reduced road spaces when junctions were already operating at 100 per cent capacity.

Labour’s opposition was described as “perplexing” by rival councillors claiming the party had previously backed the scheme with accusations the party was now and were attempting to distance themselves from the scheme as an electoral ploy.

In March 2015 it was hoped that work could begin on the first two phases of the scheme in September, should designs be agreed in June.

However at the May elections Labour gained control of the council and announced the suspension and review of the project as one of their first acts in office.

New council leader Warren Morgan said big changes were expected with concerns about its five-year construction timetable, the council’s own financial commitments, the loss of road space as well as future plans for the Aquarium roundabout and Mazda Fountain.

But he ruled out scrapping the scheme saying it had come too far and would require the handing back of millions of pounds to the LEP – a move which could have serious negative repercussions on future funding bids.

The new council leader said he was not sure how long the scheme would be on hold.

Greens warned the “late-in-the-day” revisions were “ill-informed, unaffordable” and could undermine the scheme’s original vision which had been based on years of work and consultation.

Last autumn, council officers warned that the additional traffic studies would cost the council around £80,000.

Consultants had raised concerns about proposals to reduce traffic to one lane in each direction in some parts of Valley Gardens and the junctions with Edward Street and Church Street.

The need for extra traffic modelling, raised by the independent review into the plans, was originally proposed to be completed by March but was then extended to cover ensure that they monitored traffic during the city’s busy tourism summer.

It all means that in October 2016, almost five years on, motorists, pedestrians, cyclists and businesses are still waiting for that “real change and transformation” in Valley Gardens.

GREEN SPACE IS NOT BEING USED

THE PLAN to rebuild Valley Gardens has from its inception been designed neither to increase nor decrease the volume of vehicle traffic in the area and instead is an attempt to encourage more people to enjoy the city centre’s green spaces.

Stephen Young, former chairman of Living Streets (formerly the Pedestrian Association), told The Argus: “In terms of comparable cities across the UK it’s one of the biggest areas of green space in the city centre and it’s currently not used.”

A 2013 survey found that only 26 per cent of people felt it was pleasant to walk in Valley Gardens and only 10 per cent felt it was pleasant to cycle there.

Meanwhile more than eight out of 10 people surveyed said they would prefer to spend more time in the gardens if the facilities and environment were improved.

By restricting the roads to the west of the parks to public transport and private hire vehicles, the council hopes to reduce traffic noise on that side of the park considerably because traffic will be less frequent.

That, along with an increase in the number of pedestrian walkways through the parks and double-width cycle lanes around the outside – as well as the planting of 280 trees – all formed part of the Green administration’s proposals put forward in 2015.

The plans may take several years to put into practice even after they are finalised in late November so it may be the 2020s before we know whether these parks become the well-loved well-used green sanctuaries planners are aiming to make them.