City Planner

Clear away Lewes Road shops!

This is what a recent newspaper headline blurted out: ‘Clear away shops and turn Lewes Road in Brighton into Continental boulevard, says planning consultant’. There is of course no doubt that the state of the buildings on part of the Lewes Road is not that great.

The suggestion that shops on the Lewes Road should go in favour of more cycle lanes is another folly. What is needed along the road are more houses, higher density houses, not something like what has been proposed by Cathedral though: 12-2- towers! The irony is that the Council has designated Lewes Road a high density towers corridor. So for it to approve a scheme like what has been proposed instead of the shops is unlikely.

The suggestion that shops on Lewes Road should go in favour of more cycle lanes is another folly

Likewise, by the same logic, it should not sanction the revamp of the shopping centre but crazier things have happened in this town.

The compulsory purchase of the shops that currently line the busy road is certainly an excellent idea. I have long been a fan of doing the same to the shops on Queens Road in Brighton. If we are to draw inspiration from Ashford and Birmingham who have worked hard to improve the urban environment, we need a different approach.

Birmingham getting rid of the ring road and moving away from the car dominated environment to more shared space took a long time and was part of a wider city centre investment. What Brighton needs is an urban summit where an alternative city plan can be ironed out. Anyone?

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