Plans to spend £900,000 turning a busy neighbourhood into a haven for pedestrians and cyclists have been salvaged.

Brighton and Hove city councillors Joyce Edmond-Smith, Bill Randall and Georgia Wrighton persuaded Labour colleagues to give plans for a home zone in the Hanover area of Brighton a second chance at the environment committee meeting last Thursday.

Home Zones, widely used in Europe, use landscaping to slow and discourage traffic in residential roads and impose speed limits as low as ten miles an hour to open streets for social use. Features include traffic calming, shared surfaces, widened footpaths, trees, benches and play areas.

The council earmarked £900,000 for a zone in Ewart Street, Grove Street, Cobden Road and Hampden Road but it was dropped from its five-year transport plan after residents failed to agree the proposals amid fears of losing parking spaces.

But a petition handed in at the meeting by Coun Randall, Hanover ward member, showed strong public support for the plans Coun Randall said the first consultation took place over too long a period of time and his constituents were angry such a large amount of money for their area had suddenly been taken away.

Coun Mitchell tabled an amendment to enable further consultation, which was approved by the committee.

She said: "It became clear there is a strong feeling that a home zone in Hanover would still have some merit. I have therefore asked council staff to work closely with the ward councillors and residents to review the proposals and undertake further work to see whether a scheme is viable."

Coun Randall said: "We are glad Coun Mitchell bowed to the pressure applied by the public and ward councillors."