CONTROVERSIAL plans to redesign the city centre need an urgent rethink, business leaders and councillors have warned.

All main political parties in the city have joined forces with traders to call for an "urgent pause" to the multi-million pound Valley Gardens scheme.

They have written to the councillor in charge of the project – Gill Mitchell – asking her to halt the process and review the designs with the public and businesses again.

Stage three of the scheme, which involves replacing the pier roundabout to a T-junction, is due to be completed in 2021.

Councillors and business leaders say they support the key aims of the scheme, but have concerns about the current designs.

And they have raised "significant concerns" about the way a public consultation was handled.

They say the "big decision" on which design to use was made a week before the public consultation started.

And say many residents were not told about the consultation – although it was widely reported in this newspaper at the time.

They also say there was no engagement with the tourism trade – a vital part of the city's economy.

"The importance of getting this right cannot be under-estimated," the letter says.

"Brighton and Hove continues to suffer from poor choices made three decades ago when the current road layout was created.

"The scale of this project requires that we get it right, and while no one wants to delay vital improvements to the city, we are deeply concerned that if we set the current design proposals in motion now we will end up with a flawed system that we have to live with for the next 25 to 30 years."

The letter adds: "There is no immediate deadline and if there were a pause to allow more time to get this right, there would be no penalty for that.

"We are asking that the City Council withdraws the business case submitted to the Local Enterprise Partnership with the current design and enters into meaningful engagement with residents and traders through the Valley Gardens Forum."

The letter has been signed by representatives of the Labour, Conservative and Green parties, the Valley Gardens Forum, the Tourism Alliance, traders' associations from North Laine, Brighton Lanes, Brighton Seafront, and Kemptown, the Brighton Fringe, Brighton Live Events Group, Brighton and Hove Taxi Forum, Pavilion Surgery, Brighton Language College, Brighton Grassroots Music Venues, Sainsbury's, The Marlborough Pub and Theatre and Brighton Old Town Local Action Team.

The Local Enterprise Partnership meets to discuss the proposals tomorrow.

The third phase of the £10million project will see the development of the area from Edward Street down to the Old Steine, and the Palace Pier roundabout.

It aims to improve traffic links, bus infrastructure, lighting and landscape.