ETS 23 June 2020 – Minutes extract

Petition:  (i) Remove the planter on Rottingdean High Street

6.1 The Committee considered a petition signed by 694 people that requested the removal of the planter placed on Rottingdean High Street for safety reasons and due to increased congestion.

6.2 The Chair provided the following response:

“As you are probably aware the planter is a key feature of the Rottingdean High Street scheme that was specifically designed to improve the air quality in the narrowest part of the High Street by limiting the number of vehicles in that part of the road. It is not a traffic calming measure. The planter ensures that most queuing traffic queues further to the north where building frontages are further from the kerb and buildings are lower. This means that particulates and gases from vehicles are not trapped to the extent that they are at the southern end of the street when a queue forms there. Monitoring needs to continue as traffic returns to normal pre-COVID 19 levels to determine the impact on Air Quality in the Southern High Street and over seasonal temperature and traffic flow changes in order to reach a conclusion about the success of the trial scheme. Officers are aware of only a single collision in the immediate area. A police investigation established that the presence of the planter was not a contributory factor. There have been no collisions at the junction of Park Road and extra signage has been installed on the approach to this junction to warn drivers to proceed with caution”.

6.3 RESOLVED- That the Committee note the petition.