The Green Group of City Councillors have responded to a petition, calling for a review of the award-winning Lewes Road improvements scheme, calling its demands an unnecessary, ill-informed waste of time and money.
The petition launched today by Daniel Yates, Labour councillor for Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, calls for “a full review of the scheme to include; the air quality and health impacts, the impact on alternative routes … and accident rates along Lewes Road and to … consider amendments including time restrictions on bus lanes “
Green Group convenor Cllr Phélim Mac Cafferty said:
“The Lewes Road scheme is innovative and forward-thinking. It was widely supported in one of the biggest and most in-depth consultations ever conducted in our city.
“It continues to be subject to extensive ongoing monitoring and by all measures, it’s been a success:
(1) More journeys are being made by bus, taxi and bike and fewer journeys are being made by car.
(2) There is no significant displacement of traffic to other routes.
(3) Significantly, air quality, dire for so many years along this road, is finally showing improvement.
“This is what we promised and what has been delivered. It is good news for our city and for the health of our residents. The improved Lewes Road will help the city to keep moving into the future, as the number of residents and visitors continues to grow.
“The next monitoring surveys will be carried out this Autumn, to enable comparisons with data collected in November 2012 and 2013 and I will be as interested as anyone to see the results. It takes time to fully understand the impact of a large scheme like this. However by no measure, to date, can it be shown to have failed or there to be any justification for a review. This would be an utter waste of officer time and incredibly limited city council funds. Also what sort of message would it send if we were to reverse this work that was paid for by the Department for Transport? They would think long and hard before they would invest in any more transport initiatives in our city.
“It is so disappointing to see the new Labour Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board, Cllr Daniel Yates trying to stir things up with this ill-informed petition. It is yet another sign of Labour’s backward thinking on transport policy and more narrow-minded hostility to successful Green projects which have brought welcome investment for public transport, walking and cycling.”
“Our future relies on schemes like this for better health, stronger communities and a more vibrant economy – you would think that Labour could get behind such an approach which has public benefit at its core.”