Busy Brighton street to close to traffic (From The Argus)

Good news and long overdue.

At last, and remarkably, a sensible idea from the disciples of Brussels Lucas. What next?

Sadly this £250,000 scheme, while it has supporters, has been brought in against local residents' objections, which have been treated with contempt by the council.

The scheme is NOT the pedestrianisation of East Street as has been claimed, and which many would support, but simply blocking the seafront end of the road with a new pedestrian crossing, leaving the rest of East Street open to traffic as it currently is.

The Council has consistently said that there are no objections to it. In fact, there have been several but these have been ignored. Residents have been promised a series of meetings to discuss the scheme, none of which have taken place, promises have been broken, and residents have not been informed that building work is about to start. Indeed, we have read about it today in The Argus. Work is only starting so soon because the Council is determined to shoehorn it into the current financial year.

To clarify then: There is NO approved or planned scheme to pedestrianise East Street beyond the existing pedestrian precinct. All this expensive and botched scheme will do is block the south end of the road with a crossing, making access to buildings at the end impossible, while leaving the rest of East Street as a road. And this will cost £250,000 at a time of serious cutbacks on essential services and Council plans to raise Council Tax beyond the figures set by Central Government.

So while many would support a scheme to properly pedestrianise the road, there is no such scheme and this is not it. To get to this point, the Council has badly let down residents of the street with a string of broken promises. Residents have not even been informed that work is about to start.

What do you expect from this council who seem to be ignoring the fact that they are there to serve the people not ignore them.

Make the most of your short term in office Ms.Lucas, you won't get another chance.........

What EastStreetLover says is completely true. There is NO scheme to pedestrianise East Street, this plan simply blocks off one end of it with a crossing. Traffic will be diverted behind the hotel instead.

East Street residents don't care about the party politics of the scheme, only that they have been lied to and treated with contempt by Council staff and by one councillor.

This scheme has been misrepresented to Brighton residents as a plan to turn East Street into a pedestrian precinct. That is NOT what is happening. They're just plonking a pedestrian crossing at the end of the road, making access a nightmare for people at the south end of the street. What is currently a road will REMAIN a road. And this costs a quarter of a million quid!!!!

There is already a pedestrian crossing outside the hotel very near the south end of East Street, crossing over to the seafront. All the Council is doing is moving it a few metres along so it blocks one end of East Street! Madness!

And how are emergency services supposed to get into the south end of East Street now? Drive all round the Lanes, I suppose.

Surely the Council could have found a better, more deserving use of a quarter of a million pounds?

Good, the more obstacles on the way of cars in the 'old' Brighton Esau, west, north st area the better, should ban through traffic to the whole lot

Yes, this scheme should properly, more accurately be called "Plan to move Kings Road pedestrian crossing a few metres to the left, blocking one end of East Street to no obvious purpose for £250,000".

That is factually what is happening. East Street is NOT being pedestrianised. It will remain a road. It's just that those of us at the south end of it will find access to our homes, including for emergency services, will be made very difficult.

A few further facts, all of which are backed by documentary evidence:

• Residents original objections to the scheme were never passed to the Council by their own traffic staff. The Council was told there were no objections. This was a lie.
• When residents protested, their original objections were finally acknowledged, but then rejected – because the scheme had been passed in principle.
• When residents raised detailed concerns, a traffic manager from the council met with them. He tried to hold the meeting in the street outside. On our insistence, the meeting was held inside. He told us during the meeting that meetings wit residents are not minuted (!), meaning that residents' views are not recorded by the council. This means they can be denied later: there is no evidence they ever existed.
• We were promised by Councillor Kitcat that an alternative scheme would be presented to us that did not involve blocking the end of the road. No such scheme was presented to us.
• We were promised that a face-to-face meeting with councillors backing the scheme would take place with us. No such meeting ever took place.
• We were then promised by COuncillor Kitcat that we would have an opportunity to discuss our objections with other interested parties in the street, including supporters of the scheme – we accept there are many of these. No such meeting ever took place. When officers and Jason Kitcat were reminded of it – it had been discussed many times – the Council said it had no memory of any such meeting ever being discussed.
• We have not been informed of the start of the work. We read about it in the Argus.
• No notices have appeared in the street informing us of it.
• A traffic planning meeting took place, which was told there were no objections. We were not informed that that meeting was happening, nor given any opportunity to make representations to it.
• We have been told in writing by councillor Kitcat that the plan must happen now because the current financial year is ending. So it is being rushed through in a botched and misrepresented form for budgetary and political reasons, riding roughshod of the local community in the area where the work is taking place.

ShorehamBeachcomber wrote:
Good, the more obstacles on the way of cars in the 'old' Brighton Esau, west, north st area the better, should ban through traffic to the whole lot

ShorehamBeachcomber, there is no plan to pedestrianise East Street. All the council is doing is spending £250,000 moving a pedestrian crossing. East Street will remain open to traffic and will remain a tarmac road right as far as the seafront. All that will happen is that access for local residents – as opposed to passing cars – will become difficult, and a late-night public-disorder hotspot will be created in the small area outside the Mariner pub. A futile scheme that will achieve nothing... unlike a genuine pedestrian scheme that we would have supported.

EastStreetLover wrote:
Sadly this £250,000 scheme, while it has supporters, has been brought in against local residents' objections, which have been treated with contempt by the council. The scheme is NOT the pedestrianisation of East Street as has been claimed, and which many would support, but simply blocking the seafront end of the road with a new pedestrian crossing, leaving the rest of East Street open to traffic as it currently is. The Council has consistently said that there are no objections to it. In fact, there have been several but these have been ignored. Residents have been promised a series of meetings to discuss the scheme, none of which have taken place, promises have been broken, and residents have not been informed that building work is about to start. Indeed, we have read about it today in The Argus. Work is only starting so soon because the Council is determined to shoehorn it into the current financial year. To clarify then: There is NO approved or planned scheme to pedestrianise East Street beyond the existing pedestrian precinct. All this expensive and botched scheme will do is block the south end of the road with a crossing, making access to buildings at the end impossible, while leaving the rest of East Street as a road. And this will cost £250,000 at a time of serious cutbacks on essential services and Council plans to raise Council Tax beyond the figures set by Central Government. So while many would support a scheme to properly pedestrianise the road, there is no such scheme and this is not it. To get to this point, the Council has badly let down residents of the street with a string of broken promises. Residents have not even been informed that work is about to start.

Sounds like NIMBYism. Blocking it off to traffic is going to make it much nicer for everyone who uses it. Why should local residents dictate what happens in East Street, it's used by hundreds of thousands of people every year.

Not NIMBYism. The council didn't even realise people lived here until they'd gone too far to back track with their plans. It gets reported at their meetings that there are no objections (even when they have been submitted) and by simply not advertising these meetings, unsurprisingly no-one knows. Shame on you.

It seems a waste of time to me. What is the point of a few yards at the southern end? The whole street should be pedestrianised.

What a load of nonsense,expense/mor
e gridlock/more pedestrian traffic lights to annoy car drivers even more.More car exhaust fumes.Th Greenies will have left a legacy alright.It will be a record never forgotten for a one term party to have screwed up big time.

Huckerby wrote:

EastStreetLover wrote:
Sadly this £250,000 scheme, while it has supporters, has been brought in against local residents' objections, which have been treated with contempt by the council. The scheme is NOT the pedestrianisation of East Street as has been claimed, and which many would support, but simply blocking the seafront end of the road with a new pedestrian crossing, leaving the rest of East Street open to traffic as it currently is. The Council has consistently said that there are no objections to it. In fact, there have been several but these have been ignored. Residents have been promised a series of meetings to discuss the scheme, none of which have taken place, promises have been broken, and residents have not been informed that building work is about to start. Indeed, we have read about it today in The Argus. Work is only starting so soon because the Council is determined to shoehorn it into the current financial year. To clarify then: There is NO approved or planned scheme to pedestrianise East Street beyond the existing pedestrian precinct. All this expensive and botched scheme will do is block the south end of the road with a crossing, making access to buildings at the end impossible, while leaving the rest of East Street as a road. And this will cost £250,000 at a time of serious cutbacks on essential services and Council plans to raise Council Tax beyond the figures set by Central Government. So while many would support a scheme to properly pedestrianise the road, there is no such scheme and this is not it. To get to this point, the Council has badly let down residents of the street with a string of broken promises. Residents have not even been informed that work is about to start.

Sounds like NIMBYism. Blocking it off to traffic is going to make it much nicer for everyone who uses it. Why should local residents dictate what happens in East Street, it's used by hundreds of thousands of people every year.

It's not NIMBYISM for the simple reason – which I've already shared – that residents would have supported a full pedestrianisation scheme. This is isn't it. They're just moving a pedestrian crossing a few yards so it blocks one end of the road for £250,000, leaving the rest of the street open to traffic. And rather than consult with local residents properly, they have instead lied to us, broken promises, and rushed through this botched scheme for political reasons. Council tax is going up to pay for 'essential schemes'. Does this sound essential to you?

At long last york road parking bays are being repainted today to comply with current legislation ( they were illegal before) if you get down there quick enough youll see theyve spray painted the inside bay line that needs removing hahahahahahahahahaha brunswick road done on monday!!!!! Appeal any tickets kerrrrrrching!!!!