1. Purpose of the report 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

2.1 That Council notes the petition(s).

3. Context and background information

3.1 To receive the following petition signed by 34 people at time of publication:

Dyke Road Drive is an unsafe road

We the undersigned petition Brighton & Hove Council to urgently require the council to take note of the deteriorating situation for residents, drivers, cyclists and pedestrians and work with us to create wholistic solution for our street.

Increasing traffic pressure and poor traffic & parking design, leading to high levels of pollution and aggressive antisocial driver behaviour, mean that Dyke Road Drive has become unsafe:

· as a major route to schools

· as a significant east-west cycle route

· and above all as a place to live.

It is not serving drivers well either.

3.2 To receive the following petition signed by 3 people at time of publication:

Controlled Parking Zone

We the undersigned petition Brighton & Hove Council to Add 1 hour controlled parking zone, one in the morning and one in the afternoon similar to the surrounding areas on Nevill Avenue for the entire street.

The surrounding areas around Hove Park, Poets Corner and now around Portslade Station have all had parking restrictions applied. This has now caused more and more overspill onto other roads without restrictions. I would like the same consistency and approach to be applied to Nevill Avenue. The main issues is now cars are parked all along the road, days and even months at a time. they are making it increasingly difficult for residents to park in their own drives, or even drive out of their drives as they are usually blocked or their line of sight to oncoming cars is blocked making it extremely difficult. Especially dangerous to families who have young children. There are several schools in the area with children crossing roads with multiple cars parked all day everyday making it difficult and dangerous to cross the road. As per the above if a controlled 1 hour parking restriction was applied twice a day would minimise the number of vehicles parked on the road making it a much safer road for everyone.

3.3 To receive the following petition signed by 13 people at time of publication:

Residents’ Parking Consultation Lovers Walk Brighton

Lovers Walk is at crisis point.

The Parking Situation

· We are the ONLY non-permitted street in the city centre and have been experiencing extreme and increasing difficulty parking in our street.

· This affects residents daily e.g. access for carers, loading for the tip, getting deliveries, arranging work by trades or being trades people getting to and from work.

· There’s acute competition for spaces; cars/vans continually parking on double yellow lines, regularly blocking access to the private road at the end of the street, resulting in missed appointments, lost days of work, serious inconvenience and costs for residents

· There has also been repeated serious damage to resident’s cars.

· Some residents would also like to switch to e-vehicles in the next few years which seems an impossibility.

It is rapidly worsening due to several factors:

· The incremental addition of resident parking schemes across the city has made our street an obvious target for visitors to the city and locals parking vehicles, sometimes for long periods of time as it is a short walk into the city centre.

· Pressure from Travelodge customers who predominantly opt to park for free in our street rather than pay to park in the company’s camera-controlled car park, often in a dangerous and inconsiderate way, blocking in residents.

· Multiple development projects occurring in the immediate vicinity including the creation of 229 new homes on the Anston House site. There is likely to be further developments too over the coming years e.g. the NatWest buildings on Preston Road.

· The consolidation of GP practices into the Beaconsfield Medical Centre which has limited parking spaces and serves in excess of 10k residents.

· People visiting Preston Park which now charges more for parking. This worsens when there are festivals and events in the park which happen more frequently now.

The State of the Road Surface:

The road surface is in a truly terrible state with exposed gravel and deepening potholes. It has been at least twenty years since it was resurfaced and now requires urgent attention.

The street now looks seriously neglected which sends out the message that it is uncared for, not a residential space that is in a Conservation Area. Graffiti is endemic and anti-social behaviour is commonplace, including drug dealing and a flasher on the steps. One resident had £4k of damage to her property as a result of a thrown bottle.

This is a serious concern as Lovers Walk is a major thoroughfare for families and school children, college students, dog walkers and residents accessing Preston Park.

To summarise, Lovers Walk is a historical asset in decline, and its residents are experiencing an increasingly negative impact from the major developments occurring in the vicinity, the inconsiderate attitude of the Travelodge and many other factors. We are seeking an urgent resolution to the parking situation and the road condition, which should act as a trigger for wider improvements to the street.