Brighton & Hove City Council
Transport & Sustainability Committee
4.00pm6 February 2024
Council Chamber, Hove Town Hall
Minutes
Present: Councillor Muten (Chair) Nann (Deputy Chair), Davis (Opposition Spokesperson), Asaduzzaman, Bagaeen, Galvin, Guilmant, Miller, Pumm and Robinson
Other Members present: Councillors
Part One
57 Procedural Business
57(a) Declarations of substitutes
57.1 There were none.
57(b) Declarations of interest
57.2 There were none.
57(c) Exclusion of press and public
57.3 In accordance with section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (“the Act”), the Committee considered whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during an item of business on the grounds that it was likely, in view of the business to be transacted or the nature of proceedings, that if members of the press and public were present during that item, there would be disclosure to them of confidential information (as defined in section 100A(3) of the Act) or exempt information (as defined in section 100(I) of the Act).
57.4 Resolved- That the press and public not be excluded.
58 Minutes
58.1 The minutes of the previous meeting were deferred to the next meeting.
59 Chairs Communications
59.1 The Chair provided the following communications:
“Thank you for attending this our first meeting of the Transport and Sustainability Committee in 2024. It is an honour to Chair. There is much to do.
I firstly want to welcome Cllr Guilmant to our Committee. Cllr Guilmant joins our administration after Labour’s remarkable success in the South Portslade byelection last month. I wish to add my thanks to the residents of South Portslade in continuing to place their trust in and support for this Labour administration running our wonderful city.
It is with particular thanks, too, to Cllr Loughran as she steps from this committee to focus more on her role as Chair of Planning and to the community of Preston Park where she is a highly committed and dedicated ward councillor.
There has been a lot of action since this committee last met and I wish to summarise some highlights on progress over the past two months.
Last week, our Labour administration has shown leadership and competence in setting out a balanced in-year budget for the 24/25 Financial Year, despite significant challenges. Labour have prioritised protecting essential services. An organisational redesign will see the council streamline management of services to save £2.4million. This sets out to improve service delivery and to deliver more effectively and sustainably. This means the Council will need to become a more agile to deliver more with less and work effectively in partnership to achieve Labour’s bold ambitions.
As a new administration in 2023, we made it a priority to review parking across our city. As well as immediately reversing planned charging hikes last year, we commissioned a comprehensive parking review aimed at making parking in our city simpler, fairer, more accessible and inclusive, so that parking works well for residents, visitors and the prosperity of our city. There is a lot to do to get this right, but we are acting on it.
May I now take this opportunity to specifically thank the many residents of the five light touch parking zones across the city for giving such a clear and unambiguous response in the recent public consultation for parking in these areas. When we came to office, our Labour administration spotted that there was a presumption built into the February 2023 budget that all light touch parking zones would be changed to 8am to 8am restricted parking; with a plan for a five-year programme of public consultation asking residents in each zone in turn the same question for the remaining duration of our administration. This meant that a major budgetary decision was built on a questionable presumption that residents would choose to move to a new scheme. We found this unacceptable and having pledged to be a listening council, we were very keen to find out what residents actually preferred before proceeding further.
The approval to go ahead with parking consultations in five zones was agreed at this Committee in October and consultation took place in December and January. In all zones, there was good public engagement and a very clear steer from residents that the February 2023 budget presumption under the previous Green administration was plain wrong. Having listened to feedback from residents and small businesses on converting light touch parking schemes to full schemes; I am pleased that as a result, we recommend not to implement the proposed changes in Parking Zones P, L, U, W and S. Furthermore, Labour propose to half the tariff increase as set out in the public consultation for all light touch parking zones. You said, we did.
At Full Council in December, I responded to a deputation requesting improved accessibility to cross the railway at Hove Station and said I would act on this. I am very pleased that along with Council Leader Cllr Sankey; and our Chair of Planning Cllr Loughran, we held a meeting with Network Rail to instigate the discussion to address this and improve the current arrangements. At this meeting, we also discussed at length, improvements to Preston Park railway station and the accessibly for those using the underpass and crossing the railway, including those with greater accessibility needs and those with bicycles. We also discussed including reliability of rail services to and from our city, Network Rail’s planned capital programme, safety improvements for the Portslade level crossing and planned improvements at other train stations in our city.
At the start of January, our first Transport Partnership for 2024 met with good engagement by all partners as we considered its terms of reference. These Terms of Reference had not been updated for at least a decade, so it is definitely time to step back consider what this partnership if for and how it can best serve the city by enables good stakeholder engagement on our transport and travel plans.
Our Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Programme or LCWIP is a principal focus of the Transport Partnership, with a keen interest in its delivery from all members. Recent Transport Partnership meetings have had updates on the A23 Phase 1A, Valley Gardens Phase 3, and plans for better safter streets through junction and signage improvements.
Following our strategic review of the A259 scheme from Brighton Marina to city boundary west, we have learned that, unsurprisingly, disconnected and second-rate active travel schemes are not the best way to encourage residents and visitors to cycle and walk. A more holistic connected active travel is central to our approach to the LCWIP and we plan that following review of options. An update for A259 Fourth Avenue to Wharf Road Hove active travel scheme is expected at the next Transport and Sustainability Committee.
We are very pleased that following our design review we have recently affirmed support from the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership for the Valley Gardens Phase 3 project. With affirmed funding, Valley Gardens Phase 3 has now commenced and with a tender process underway.
In January, I was pleased to meet with representatives from Bricycles, Sustrans and Community Works, to walkover of the North Laine and East Street to assess the permeability for cyclists and other wheelers in this area. During this site visit, we identified a number of ways signage, junctions, road markings, cycle routes and street table and chairs could be improved, enhanced or changed to enable better and safer cycling and wheeling through this part of our city centre. We will take this forward.
Along with Cllr Sankey, in January, I also met with National Express as part of a wider consideration of Pool Valley following last summer’s devastating fire in the Royal Albion Hotel. We are very keen to work with National Express and other partners to improve accessibility, safety and facilities for coach travellers and consider a range of options as the Royal Albion Hotel and Pool Valley area are improved.
At the recent Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) 50 years Celebration Conference, attended by our city bus operators, Brighton and Hove and Leicester city were celebrated nationally for being exemplars in bus services. I am very proud for our city that this is the case and all credit to all involved.
It was therefore a great pleasure to chair the Enhanced Bus Partnership last week, where officers gave an update on our ambitious Bus Service Improvement Plan setting out the many projects to improve bus traffic flow through junction and road design. A presentation on bus punctuality and patronage shows significant improvement in both passenger numbers and punctuality over the period we have been in office. This shows the value of partnership between the Council and bus operators; with particular thanks to Brighton and Hove Buses who have undertaken a large recruitment drive over the past 8 months now enabling a full complement of buses.
Finally, I am pleased to see two important reports come to our committee today, on climate adaptation and managing the strategic risk for delivering our carbon neutral programme.
The target date for our city to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 has been well communicated, so we expected that the previous Green administration would have established a strategy and an action plan to get this city there. Yet, when our Labour administration looked under the bonnet of the carbon neutrality vehicle; we found no motor, no battery, no wheels, no steering wheel and no roadmap for the whole city to get there. I appreciate the Greens have a reputation of being the anti-car party, but not having any drive or vehicle to get our city along this important journey is obscene. It was all green-wash and no substance.
This Labour administration is now getting a grip on the city’s strategy for achieving net zero and adapting to the impact of climate change. The October Transport and Sustainability Committee meeting agreed to commission our decarbonisation pathways study to get us there and are now building strategy on this. We have since been working urgently to identify the practical steps required decarbonise the city as a whole, and having met yesterday with the council sustainability team and with Buro Happold undertaking this important study I can confirm good progress with the results of our Decarbonisation Pathways Study that are due shortly.
The council is directly responsible for only less than 2% of the city’s carbon emissions. We urgently need to start working with partners to reduce the 98% of carbon emissions we don’t directly control, and the new Net Zero team will provide the focus we need to prepare and adapt to fully meet the challenge ahead.
Given the scale of the challenge and the astonishing lack of progress, the council is in the process of forming a new Net Zero team to focus on large projects and strategic partnerships with the city’s biggest emitters, largest employers, our universities and colleges and other key stakeholders. This will provide real drive in moving our whole city to net zero”.
60 Call Over
60.1 The following items on the agenda were reserved for discussion:
- Item 64: Fees & Charges 2024/25
- Item 65: Parking Annual Report 2022/23
- Item 67: School Streets Queens Park Primary- TRO-26-2022
- Item 68: Street Scene Policy
- Item 69: Strategic Risk Annual Progress Update
- Item 70: Climate Adaptation: Managing City Risk and Vulnerability to Climate Change
- Item 71: Gully Cleansing Strategy Update 2024
60.2 The Democratic Services Officer confirmed that the items listed above had been reserved for discussion and that the following reports on the agenda with the recommendations therein had been approved and adopted:
- Item 66: Parking Customer Services Update
61 Public Involvement
(A) Petitions
(1) Parking Permits for residents of Ansty Close
61.1 The Committee considered a petition signed by 5 people requesting parking permits for Ansty Close.
61.2 The Chair provided the following response:
“I am sorry to hear of problems you are experiencing. What you describe is clearly frustrating and there seems to be some taking advantage of the lack of parking restrictions in your cul de sac. I have asked officers to review options.
Resident parking schemes are area based and cannot comprise of individual roads. We would need support from a wider area in order to link Ansty Close to an existing residents parking scheme or to become a new residents parking scheme.
I will ask council officers to look at other ways to address this parking challenge. This may include more frequent enforcement to check all vehicles parking on the public highway are taxed and insured and asking drivers of trade vehicles to be more considerate of residents’ parking and access needs when parking”.
61.3 Councillor Davis moved a motion to call for an officer report.
61.4 Councillor Bagaeen formally seconded the motion.
61.5 The Chair put the motion to the vote that failed.
61.6 Resolved- That the Committee note the petition.
(2) Stop removing parking spaces from Zone M
61.7 The Committee considered a petition signed by 32 people requesting the council stop removing parking spaces in Zone M.
61.8 The Chair provided the following response:
“I am familiar with Zone M. When Zone M was introduced more than two decades ago, there was not a parking zone to the north or west, meaning drivers would routinely park in nearby roads such as Somerhill and Holland roads north of Lansdowne Road for example. Later, parking zones were introduced in all areas surrounding Zone M, effectively boxing this permitted area in.
Therefore, it is my view that this is more a problem with the capacity of Zone M parking zone rather than providing more facilities such as bike hangers that use parking spaces per say. Zone M maybe, therefore, too small for the demand with no overspill option. As an incoming new Labour administration, we soon recognised that our citywide parking is not entirely fit for purpose having evolved over several decades without sufficient strategic and policy oversight. The anti-car policies of the Green administration did not help with proposed parking tariff hikes. We reversed these hikes in July and instigated a strategic parking review. Parking needs to be fair and equitable, simpler, accessible, inclusive and work well for residents, communities and businesses for the prosperity of our city. This review will include the number of parking spaces and size of Zone M.
The costs of permits are determined through the annual budget process and the fees & charges proposals for 24/25 are being discussed later on in this meeting”.
61.9 Resolved- That the Committee note the petition.
62 Items referred from Council
There were none.
63 Member Involvement
(B) Written Questions
(1) Pollution
63.1 Councillor Davis put the following question:
“In Labour’s local election manifesto, you committed to “bring an end to noisy and polluting vehicles”. Can you tell me when this will happen?”
63.2 The Chair provided the following reply:
“Our manifesto highlighted cutting vehicle pollution as one the main ways that can help people to find ‘Better ways to get around the city’ and improve the health of the city. The focus of this commitment includes installing more electric charging vehicle points; collaborating with taxi drivers to develop an ultra-low emission fleet; and assisting car club co-operatives.
You will know from your own experience that these types of initiatives can require significant officer time and investment and progress depends on the available funding, as well as the capacity of the power network. However, Independent research shows that the city is one of the best-prepared areas for electric vehicle uptake in the UK based on the number of chargers per resident.
Our progress on electric vehicle infrastructure is summarised in the excellent Annual Parking Report which is on the agenda for this meeting. The council has a good delivery record and we very much hope that our recent bid for a further £3 million pounds of Government funds will enable us to install a further minimum of 1,600 chargers. If successful, this will provide the basis for a step-change in the uptake of electric vehicles in the city.
We need to continue to work with the taxi trade and its drivers to enable them to make their fleet cleaner. They need accessible infrastructure and there are now three rapid charging hubs in the city, and we are planning a further two sites. These provide dedicated bays for electric taxis, as well as bays for general public use, and further sites for rapid chargers are being investigated. We also want to explore ways that will incentivise the increased uptake of these vehicles.
Replacing diesel buses with zero emission alternatives will support our vision for an accessible, clean, and sustainable city. Our work therefore continues with bus companies through the Enhanced Bus Partnership. If successful, our recent funding bid to the Government’s Zero Emission Bus fund (which this committee supported) will enable a £multi-million pound investment in 16 electric buses and charging infrastructure.
We will also continue to work with local car club operators to ensure that fleets are ultra-low or zero emission. We understand that the plans of local co-operative ‘Electric Brighton Car Share’ have unfortunately been delayed while they are looking for a partner organisation, and officers are also researching different models and approaches to managing car clubs in the city and promoting their electrification.
These measures are therefore part of an ongoing programme that we will deliver during the coming years by working in partnership to contribute to tackling and improving air quality in the city”.
63.3 Councillor Davis asked the following supplementary question:
“What about the taxi trade how predominately use diesel vehicles?”
63.4 The Chair provided the following reply:
We have approached the taxi trade. I don’t have much further to add other than what was in my response however, I do appreciate there are barriers and thought will be given about incentives to move to cleaner vehicles”.
(2) Elm Grove
63.5 Councillor Davis read the following question:
“Can I have an update in the number of fines collected from pavement parking in Elm Grove”.
63.6 The Chair provided the following reply:
“125 Penalty Charge Notices have been issued in Elm Grove for pavement parking since June 2023.
In January, only 2 Penalty Charge Notices were issued which indicates the restriction is an effective deterrent.”
63.7 Councillor Davis asked the following supplementary question:
“Which areas of the city does the Administration would most benefit for the next stage of the roll-out?”
63.8 The Chair provided the following reply:
“I would like pavement parking to be banned across the city but by Government legislation. In 2019 there was a comprehensive options assessment. Three options were considered viable- a Traffic Regulation Order approach street by street which is a cumbersome and slow way to approach this and two other options. I have and will call again for the Secretary of State to make a decision on this as those two other options would enable us to effectively implement a pavement parking ban”.
(3) 20mph Limits
63.9 Councillor Davis read the following question:
“The 20mph speed limit has been an emotive subject but nobody can deny that slower moving vehicles lead to less serious injuries and a safer environment for pedestrians and cyclists and less emissions. TFL have introduced a blanket 20mph speed limit to their central streets alongside and an enforcement team to further enhance city centres and so my question is, would this administration consider following suit and rolling out a city wide 20mph speed limit?”
63.10 The Chair provided the following reply:
“The 20mph speed limit has indeed been a successful scheme that the administration fully supports, however, the needs of public transport have to be considered. A blanket city-wide scheme needs to take into account the effects it may have so this is why certain roads are not included. These are used by public transport and such a reduction would impact directly on bus journey times so currently I believe we have the best balance of speed limits in the city. It is possible that the situation has changed with some roads so I will ask officers to continue to assess speed limits where changes to road layouts are made and to ensure we have the best scheme for the city. We are therefore no plans to change to a citywide speed limit and continue with the arrangement that was in place during the previous administration on this matter. Further, it is very important that all drivers adhere to speed limits for all our roads. There is a concern that some drivers do not adhere to the 20mph limit where in place and I wish to work with residents and council officers to find effective ways to develop the behaviour change that is needed to fully adhere to traffic laws”.
(4) LCWIP
63.11 Councillor Davis read the following question:
“Can the chair inform the committee of the progress of the LCWIP?”
63.12 The Chair provided the following reply:
“As a Labour administration, we are fully committed to active travel and delivering schemes better than before. The LCWIP aligns well with our more strategic approach to walking and cycling moving away from the disconnected and ad hoc approach that seemed to be prevalent before we took office. Work is progressing to develop various priority routes within the LCWIP including Western Road, A23, Valley Gardens and A259. A more detailed update on the LCWIP will be coming to this committee later this year. The LCWIP is also used to show to government the level of ambition the city has for active travel, including in funding bids and self-assessment processes for Active Travel England; however, it does not in itself attract funding”.
63.13 Councillor Davis asked the following supplementary question:
“Given the modal shift officer position is proposed to be removed during the budget cuts, how do you see this impacting the LCWIP plan?”
63.14 The Chair provided the following reply:
“It should not effect the delivery; the workload will be taken on by other officers”.
(5) Park & Ride
63.15 Councillor Davis read the following question:
“Can the chair inform me on the progress and location of the park and ride promised in their manifesto”.
63.16 The Chair provided the following reply:
“A review of potential options for a formal Park and Ride facility is being undertaken which is based on an updated assessment of previously identified, possible sites across the city.
I welcomed Cllr Fishleigh’s member question at Full Council last week. In my response, I summarised 20 years of repeated park and ride assessments with no action. It is noted that the Green Party saw no value in Park and Ride no doubt on the misplaced anti-car agenda that by not having a park and ride, drivers will not come to our city. How wrong is that? This inaction of successive administrations needs now to stop and I am determined that this administration delivers.
A report will come to committee in due course which will consider the outcomes of this work and make decisions on next steps and budgetary requirements”.
64 Fees and Charges 2024-25
64.1 The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director, Economy, Environment & Culture that set out the proposed 2024/25 fees and charges for the service areas covered by the Transport & Sustainability Committee in accordance with corporate regulations and policy.
64.2 Councillors Nann, Robinson, Bagaeen, Miller and Davis asked questions and contributed to the debate of the report.
64.3 Resolved-
1) That Committee agrees the proposed fees and charges for 2024/25 as set out within the report.
4) That Committee delegates authority to the Executive Director of Economy, Environment & Culture (in relation to paragraphs 3.5 – 3.14), to change fees and charges as notified and set by central Government during the year.
65 Parking Annual Report 2022-23
65.1 The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director, Economy Environment & Culture that requested approval of the publication of the Parking Annual Report April 2022 to March 2023 on the performance of Parking Services for general publication under the provisions of the Traffic Management Act 2004.
65.2 Councillors Bagaeen, Robinson, and Nann asked questions and contributed to the debate of the report.
65.3 Resolved-
1) That Committee approves the publication of the Parking Annual Report for 2022-23 under the provisions of the Traffic Management Act 2004
2) That Committee authorises the Head of Parking Services to produce and publish the public report, which will be made available on the Council’s website.
66 Parking Customer Service Update
Resolved-
1) That Committee notes the work done to date as outlined in Paragraphs 3.1 to 3.9.
2) That Committee approves the Parking Services digital modernisation future plan (present to 2025/26) as outlined in Appendix 1 and Para 3.11.
67 School Streets - Queens Park Primary TRO-26-2022
67.1 The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director, Economy, Environment & Culture that outlined the consultation results for the Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) at Queens Park Primary School (TRO-26-2022) which was implemented as part of the School Streets programme and proposed making the TRO permanent.
67.2 Councillor Miller and Davis asked questions and contributed to the debate of the report.
67.3 Resolved-
1) That the Committee, having taken account of all duly made comments and representations, as detailed at Appendix 1, agrees that the provisions of TRO-26-2022 is to be made permanent.
68 Street Scene Policy
68.1. The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director, Economy, Environment & Culture that sought approval for the draft Street Scene Policy, which would enable the continued installation and licensing of street furniture in the City in a consistent and safe way to ensure that the City’s streets are accessible.
68.2. Councillors Pumm, Alexander, Galvin, Davis, Bagaeen, Robinson and Guilmant asked questions and contributed to the debate of the report.
68.3. Resolved-
1) That Committee agrees to approve the draft policy to ensure that the Council follows national guidance so that all works meet the guidance when being carried out in the City.
2) That Committee agrees to formally start a consultation with relevant stakeholders to develop a full policy that works for the City.
69 Strategic Risk Annual Progress Update
69.1 The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director, Economy, Environment & Culture that provided an update on the council’s progress mitigating the strategic risk no. 36: ‘Not taking all actions required to address climate and ecological change and transitioning our city to carbon neutral by 2030’.
69.2 Councillors Bagaeen, Davis and Miller asked questions and contributed to the debate of the report.
69.3 Resolved-
1) The Committee agrees to note the actions taken (‘Existing Controls’) and the relevant actions planned to mitigate the strategic risks, as outlined in Appendix 1.
70 Climate Adaptation – managing city risk and vulnerability to climate change
70.1 The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director, Economy, Environment & Culture that updated on the work that has been progressing to date to help make the city, its residents, communities, infrastructure, and economy, more resilient to climate change and extreme weather events. The report also sets out proposed next steps to take forward climate adaptation actions to reinforce the resilience of Brighton and Hove to the impacts of climate change.
70.2 Councillors Nann, Miller, Bagaeen and Davis asked questions and contributed to the debate of the report.
70.3 Resolved-
That Committee:
1) Notes the climate adaptation work progressed to date as set out in paragraphs 3.0 to 3.8.
2) Notes the recommended actions detailed in the city’s Climate Adaptation Action Plan report, as set out in Appendix 2.
3) Agrees the next step as set out in Table 7 of Appendix 2 to integrate actions into the work of the council.
71 Gulley Cleansing Strategy Update 2024
71.1 The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director, Economy, Environment & Culture that provided an update on how the previously approved Drainage Strategy had been implemented and how the risk-based approach had been applied to this service to ensure value for money and to ensure that it can continue to be delivered within existing revenue budgets. It also set out the other factors that influence surface water and what actions are in place to address these challenges within existing budgets and resources across the relevant teams within the Council.
71.2 Councillor Bagaeen asked questions on the report.
71.3 Resolved-
1) That Committee notes the change in the cleansing regime in response to increased costs within the industry as detailed in paragraphs 3.5 to 3.13 of this report.
2) That Committee notes the various factors that contribute to surface water flooding and the mitigation that is in place as set out in Appendix 1 of this report.
3) That Committee notes the drainage infrastructure maintenance backlog of £1.25 million as detailed in paragraph 4.2 of this report.
72 Items referred for Full Council
72.1 No items were referred to Full Council for information.
The meeting concluded at 6.15pm
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