WHAT parallel universe does Donna Chisholm live in (The Argus, March 17)?

Visitors cannot easily access Brighton for the proposed Christmas market. The Valley Gardens project has ensured single-file traffic is hindered from entering the city from London Road or Lewes Road.

There is a similar dilemma for those entering from the east or west with queues along the A259 and A27, now single carriageways because of cycle lanes, which will probably be made worse because the Palace Pier roundabout will have been replaced by traffic lights.

Once in the city, parking charges are exorbitant. “The city council has made more money from parking than any other authority outside London. Brighton City Council made a £24.8 million surplus from parking activities in the past financial year ... The analysis has been released days after councillors voted to put up the price of parking across the city” (Argus, January 25).

We know the council does not favour a park and ride scheme.

The proposed market will be in cold and wet December. Families, which I assume the council are trying to encourage, will not be using the plethora of planned cycle lanes and even if they did, where is the provision for hundreds of people to park their bicycles?

Has anyone carried out a feasibility study?

How do stall-holders unload their vans, given we are down to one lane of traffic in Valley Gardens, so nowhere to drop off? A point highlighted by Councillor Mears but not addressed.

When they have offloaded where do they park their vans? Once it would have been along Madeira Drive.

What about the cycle lane through Valley Gardens? Will this be closed for the duration? Will the stall-holders be on the newly planted gardens or the walkway? Where will pedestrians go?

All this is before we arrive at the very sensible observation again made by Mrs Mears - people’s safety. How do people actually enter Valley Gardens sandwiched between two roads?

The council has made it abundantly clear, as have many letters in The Argus: if you have a car you aren’t welcome in our city. Does Donna Chisholm not realise people do not come to the city from “all over Sussex,specifically to visit”, precisely because they can not get in? This is the flipside of an anti-car council.

Finally, as also identified by Councillor Mears, what about local businesses looking to Christmas to recover losses from the last year? Donna Chisholm’s visitors “generate more income and disperses more money around the city” will be cold comfort to them.

G Upton

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