..GMB PERSPECTIVE....
Now let’s make it very clear; I am a motorist, a cyclist and pedestrian, so I think I am in an excellent position to make comments on what are known as ‘Covid-19 Bike Lanes’.
Yes... like in other cities and towns those dreaded pop-up ‘Covid- 19 Bike Lanes’ suddenly appeared here in Brighton & Hove under what is known as ‘Experimental Traffic Road Orders’ which are very different to normal ‘Traffic Road Orders’. By being experi- mental it means that such schemes can be put in place without any initial consultations whatsoever. Consultation will only take place some six months later to ‘gauge the feeling’.
However we all know that once a scheme has been put in place and twisted stats are presented, any experimental scheme will become permanent. Am I being cynical... yep!
I am sure that what has happened here in the city is mirrored all over the country with eager councils flexing their power having applied for and been given a grant by the government to initiate schemes for social distancing. But the big question is that with big money being spent to implement these schemes, will there be any money to revert the roads and pavements back to the way they were? As far as I have found out the answer is no.
Along our seafront is the A259 which is the main coast road for not only vehicles coming into Brighton & Hove with people’s money to spend in the city but also for vehicles connecting to the many other towns and areas along the way from East to West.
Talking about “West”....we had one Green Councillor Pete West (Lead Member for Transport) who stated at a hustings in 2019 I attended that he actually wanted to dig up this road! That was effectively shooting a warning across the bow because whilst not actually digging up this road the Green council took full advan- tage a few months ago and removed one traffic lane and made it in to pop-up a ‘Covid-19 Bike Lane’
Just a brief note about Green Cllr Pete West: I will always admire someone who has beliefs and convictions - I really really do. I have sat in meetings with Cllr Pete and have listened to what he has had to say about wanting people to get out of their cars as a keen cyclist himself. In fact Cllr Pete really doesn’t like cars at all, not even electric ones! He has stated this on the basis that: “... they use as much energy to be produced as normal cars.” But I dug around and found an interesting fact: Cllr Pete West once ran a building company in the city back in 2007. So I emailed him ask- ing him the following:
“Dear Councillor West
I write with reference to the new bike lanes imposed on the city. At this point I will not be tackling the issues it has caused the local taxi trade due to the knock-on effect. However I have learnt from a 2007 ‘Green Community News’ that you once had a small family building company and I am interest-
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ed to learn as to how you managed with regards to transporta- tion for such a business to operate in the city without a vehicle?”
Needless to say that to date I have not had a reply...
But with the previous wish to dig up the seafront road and the governments handout, this gave Cllr West and his fellow Green councillors the incentive to take full advantage a few months ago as they removed two traffic lanes and made them into ‘Covid-19 Bike Lanes’. This was not only on the main A259 seafront road but also on the A27 Old Shoreham Road which is another major ‘in and out’ arterial road for the city.
This really has affected the local cab trade. We have drivers who have not been working for a couple of months who are now trying to get out there and put food on the table. They now also have to face all the extra congestion caused by taking away traffic lanes because some think this is all about ‘social distancing’.
NO IT IS NOT! It’s about the council and the Greens taking advan- tage of a terrible situation to enforce ‘social engineering’. In other words make it so difficult for people to drive in the city by cram- ming them all into single lane traffic so they will eventually abandon their cars and jump on their tandems and ride off to the local garden centres and carry those plum trees home in the bicy- cle handlebar baskets.
It really is quite incredible the amount of congestion that has been caused, along with the extra pollution as the result of such knee-jerk decisions. It has also severely upset a consid- erable amount of people in the city with various Facebook groups emerging under such names as ‘Remove The Greens’ ‘Stop the Gridlock –Save Our City’ and ‘Remove A27 Cycle Lanes’
The trouble is that we have Green councillors trying to justify their actions and using statistics stating that bike riding has gone up by 61%. Myself and many others say: “Hold on! Sixty-one per cent in actual facts and figures please! Are we talking hundreds or thou- sands? Or single... or maybe double figures?”
When percentage stats are being used to try and justify some- thing, that’s the time when you should sit up and smell a rat - when you don’t get the bare bones of actual numbers. I told you I was a cynic....
The point being is that the public are no longer as stupid as the powers that be think they are. They can see right through what some would claim as manipulative numbers to justify actions and achieve an end goal.
But back to the congested and extra polluted seafront. Not only has it affected the cab trade when drivers have been close to the breadline, it has also caused issues with ambulances trying to get through - despite the denials. And yes I have evidence of this... Here’s just one example: see
tinyurl.com/a259ambulance.
OCTOBER 2020
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