Subject:		Petitions
Date of Meeting:		19 January 2021
Report of:		Monitoring Officer
Contact Officer:	Name:	John Peel	Tel:	01273 291058
	E-mail:	john.peel@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Wards Affected:	Various

FOR GENERAL RELEASE

1. SUMMARY AND POLICY CONTEXT:

1.1             To receive any petitions submitted directly to Democratic Services or any e-Petition submitted via the council’s website.

2.               RECOMMENDATIONS:

2.2             That the Committee responds to the petition either by noting it or where it is considered more appropriate, calls for an officer report on the matter.

3. PETITIONS

3. (i)          Traffic Calming Measures on Dyke Road– Peter Wilkinson

To receive the following petition hosted on Change.org and signed by 60 people at the time of publication:

Vehicles around Seven Dials are travelling way too fast at the moment, and measures need to be taken to slow them down.

Speeding cars and motorbikes, especially in built-up areas, are dangerous to their occupants and to other road users and pedestrians. They are also intimidating for locals both in terms of their physical threat, as well as the noise and pollution they create.

The recent lockdown made us appreciate the peace that the reduction in traffic levels brought, and made many question why we couldn’t have that benefit when everyday life resumes.

I have asked police and local councillors to introduce traffic calming measures on Dyke Road, near my house, but each time they say that there have not been enough road traffic accidents to warrant such action. Also they say that a survey of Dyke Road found the average speed was 20mph. Neither answer is convincing: traffic is still oppressive to local people regardless of how many accidents there have been. It’s still scary to walk on a pavement, especially with a child, just a few feet from a car doing over 40mph. And I just don’t believe Dyke Road has an average speed of 20. Maybe it does if it includes traffic that can occasionally be stationary during rush-hour.

I believe traffic calming measures could help slow things down, either speed humps or traffic cameras and more visible 20mph signs. At the moment, the 20mph zones across Brighton are rarely enforced — they should be.

3. (ii)         Wish Park, Hove, Disabled Toilet - Equality of Access – Francis LeRoux

To receive the following petition hosted on Change.org and signed by 428 people at the time of publication:

Throughout this challenging year, Wish Park has been a popular location for our community to exercise, catch up with friends and neighbours or simply enjoy being outside.

The park has two public toilets which are attached to the Wish and Saxon Road pavilions. The toilet at the Saxon Road end of the park is specifically designed for disabled park users but is not open each day or routinely cleaned. By means of contrast, the Wish Road toilet is open each day and kept clean by the café team.

This unequal access to public facilities is simply not acceptable in the 21st century. We call on Brighton and Hove City Council and our elected local councillors to rectify this position. As a matter of urgency, we request that the access and availability of toilet facilities in Wish Park is the same for all members of our community irrespective of personal physical circumstance.  Furthermore, we ask that access to the disabled toilet is through the RADAR key mechanism to avoid the misuse which has occurred previously.