Concerns over more traffic on roads in Elm Grove, Brighton

Brighton and Hove City Council is consulting on plans for a Liveable Hanover and Tarner low-traffic neighbourhood, prompting a petition from people living in Elm Grove.

After seeing two options at design workshops, some residents in streets north of Elm Grove raised concerns about the effect on their area.

They shared their concerns with councillors at a North East Hanover Residents’ Association meeting this week.

Worries included the prospect of more drivers heading down their streets. They said some drivers already used their roads as rat-runs to try to avoid the Lewes Road traffic lights at the bottom of Elm Grove.

The council’s principal transport planner Oliver Spratley said the two options presented at community workshops were early designs.

He said people living in the area had shared their experiences. These, he said, would help turn the “rough conceptual ideas” into something more like a liveable neighbourhood seen in other parts of the country.

Mr Spratley said: “We’re progressing with these designs and we’ll come back again with something once we have the feedback from everybody.

“We’ve seen already there are big flaws in the concepts that have been presented and they will change. They will be different and will alleviate concerns and anxiety.”

Elm Grove residents have already shared their worries about more traffic heading up and down the road.

But it is unlikely to become a formal part of any low-traffic neighbourhood scheme because it is a key classified road, linking main roads in and out of Brighton.

Councillor Elaine Hills raised concerns over parking in the area

Residents in De Montfort Road and Franklin Road were particularly concerned about more traffic. They spoke of exhaust pipes scraping along the road surface as speeding drivers exceeded the 20mph limit over the road humps.

In January, residents’ association chairman Matt Black addressed the council’s environment, transport and sustainability Committee.

He called for a low-traffic neighbourhood to include the roads north of Elm Grove to Hartington Road and around William Clarke Park, also known as the Patch.

He asked how Elm Grove could be improved in the future if there were low-traffic neighbourhoods on both sides.

Green councillor Elaine Hills, who represents Hanover and Elm Grove ward, said: “Ultimately, we need to make Elm Grove a better street. Currently, the way the parking is is terrible.

“There are lots of things wrong with it.

“I envisage the low-traffic neighbourhood accommodating the boundary roads too.

“We can do nice things like crossings which could be incorporated – that’s what we need to consider … more greening on Elm Grove and that sort of thing.”

She said the traffic should decrease across the whole area, reducing pollution once low-traffic neighbourhoods settle in.

The online Liveable Hanover and Tarner design workshop is open until Easter Sunday at climateconversationsbrighton.uk.engagementhq.com/liveable-hanover-tarner.