Council Debate On Brighton And Hove ULEZ Petition

Brighton and Hove's councillors spent fifteen minutes debating a petition urging them to scrap proposals for an ultra-low emission zone even though they have no plans to bring in a London-style ULEZ scheme.

More than 2,000 people signed the petition which was started by former local election candidate Laura King.

The number of signatures automatically triggered a debate at a meeting of Brighton and Hove City Council at Hove Town Hall last Thursday (19 October).

The petition called on the council “to scrap proposals to charge drivers for driving in Brighton and Hove in legally owned vehicles which have passed their emissions tests”.

The petition also took aim at low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), saying that they were “traffic obstruction schemes” that discriminated against drivers “in the course of our daily lives and businesses”.

Labour councillor Trevor Muten, who chairs the council’s Transport and Sustainability Committee, said that the proposed LTN had been scrapped and there were no plans for a city-wide ULEZ.

Ms King said that the retail sector was building up for Christmas yet, during the week, The Lanes were deserted and shoppers laden with bags were a rare sight.

She said that the Brighton Marathon and London to Brighton bike ride had experienced a “catastrophic” fall in the number of participants which was an “embarrassment” for the city.

Ms King said that the Palace Pier had also had a poor season, adding:

"Marks and Spencer, when asked why no one was staffing the changing rooms, replied they were told not to recruit new members of staff each time one leaves.

"All this as a result of sky-high parking and the removal of hundreds of visitor parking spaces serving our shops and attractions.

"Imagine the local economy with ULEZ charges on top of exorbitant parking, bus gate fines and up to 90,000 penalty charges a year thanks to a malfunctioning on-street parking system."

Ms King also said that there was no evidence that 170 people a year died in Brighton and Hove because of pollution.

Councillor Muten said that a citywide ULEZ had been proposed in the Green Party manifesto, not Labour’s, and the electorate had rejected the Greens at the ballot box in May.

He said that voters gave their verdict on Green policies such as a ULEZ and low-traffic neighbourhoods by reducing the Greens from 20 councillors to seven and giving Labour a majority, with 38 councillors in 18 of the council’s 23 electoral wards.

Councillor Muten said:

"You may have also noticed the Labour Party opposed the proposed Hanover and Tarner low-traffic neighbourhood in the February 2023 budget council, diverting £1 million to save public toilets across our city that the Green Party decided to close.

"The unpopularity of the proposed Hanover and Tarner LTN was perhaps one reason why the local community there elected three new Labour councillors in the Green Party’s second safest seat in the city."

Councillor Muten said that the only ULEZ in Brighton and Hove had been in place since 2015, in North Street and along Western Road to Montpelier Road.

There were no plans to change it – and air quality had improved in those streets since it was brought in.

He said that a realistic strategy was needed – not a “one size fits all” approach – based on data and working with the community to improve air quality in the most polluted areas.

Green councillor Steve Davis said that polluted air was the fourth biggest global killer, resulting in 340,000 years of life lost each year in Britain.

Councillor Davis, the Green group convenor, said:

"There appears to be absolutely no need whatsoever to beseech the Labour administration into scrapping LTNs and ULEZ schemes as they have made their position on such schemes so abundantly clear that it would make Rishi Sunak blush.

"In the week that analysis showing that nine out of ten neighbourhoods in our city – or approximately 260,000 of our residents including 44,000 children in 77 schools – are breathing polluted air exceeding the WHO (World Health Organisation) limits, action has never been more urgently needed."

Conservative councillor Samer Bagaeen said that London’s ULEZ generated a nine-figure sum last year, making such zones attractive, even though Brighton and Hove’s Labour group said that there were no plans for one.

He said:

"Surely, it is an exciting proposition for local authorities and we can’t take it off the table.

"’m really surprised my colleagues have, especially with local government chief executives having been told … that Whitehall spending is unlikely to change regardless of who wins the next general election."

In January 2020, councillors agreed to look into the idea of a “car-free city” by 2023.

Former Green councillor Amy Heley received unanimous cross-party support for her motion requesting a report into the costs and a feasibility study.

But when the report about creating a “liveable city” went before councillors again a year later – after a delay because of the coronavirus pandemic – support was restricted to the Greens and Labour.