A former city councillor has said that people power has prevailed after a parish council called for a controversial plant pot to be removed from a village high street.

Rottingdean Parish Council voted in favour of requesting that the city council remove the planter for a year to assess its impact on air quality.

The planter in Rottingdean High Street was put in place to reduce unacceptable levels of pollution in 2019 but has proved divisive among residents due to the village’s already narrow roads, as well as claims that traffic caused by the object has snaked into other parts of the village.

The planter, along with yellow hatching, was due to be in place for 18 months but was extended for another year and a half until October 2022 due to the impact of the pandemic on traffic flow.

While councillors on Rottingdean Parish Council welcomed sensor data that revealed an improvement in air quality since the measures were introduced, a spokesman for the council said that ambiguities in the data are “worth further investigation”.

“In particular, the report to Brighton and Hove City Council’s environment, transport and sustainability committee in March 2021 suggested that the readings from the sensor closest to the planter indicated less of a reduction in pollutants and commented that vehicle queuing and launching - which is more likely around the planter - were contributors to emissions,” he said.

The Rottingdean Air Quality Management Area project group, made up of the parish council and all three ward councillors for the city council, would need to also recommend the removal of the planter before the proposal could be discussed by the city council's environment, transport and sustainability committee.

Former city councillor Lynda Hyde said that the decision had been a small win for people power and called on the committee to listen to residents and make the right decision.

She said: “I am pleased that the parish council has listened to residents, as the planter is very dangerous to residents and I hope that the city council’s committee listen to this recommendation and act accordingly to the wishes of residents in Rottingdean.

“It’s a small win for people power. Nobody wants it.”

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: "The planter on Rottingdean High Street was installed on the recommendation of the Rottingdean Air Quality Management Area project group in response to serious public concerns about air quality in the lower section of the street.

"As such, any consideration of removing the planter would need to be recommended by the same group. We will convene a meeting of this group in the new year.

"If the group agrees with the parish council's vote we will take the matter to a future environment, transport and sustainability committee."