Hove parent calls for 20mph speed limit to include school routes

A Hove Park School parent is calling for a number of key roads used by school children to have a 20mph speed limit.

Chris Murgatroyd, of York Avenue, said that the roads around Hove Park and Hove Recreation Ground were used by children from at least five schools.

Mr Murgatroyd, former chairman of governors at Somerhill Junior School, is due to make his case at Hove Town Hall on Wednesday (11 December).

He is expected to lead a deputation to a Brighton and Hove City Council committee meeting as councillors consider whether to extend 20mph to more roads.

The decision is to be made by a special meeting of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee. The meeting is due to start at 11am.

The meeting has been called to discuss the second phase of 20mph speed limits across Brighton and Hove, taking in many more streets.

But the proposals exclude a number of residential streets around Hove Park and Hove Rec from having the slower speed limit.

Mr Murgatroyd, a member of the Goldsmid Local Action Team (LAT), emailed parents with children at Hove Park School.

He said: “These are key routes to school for pupils wanting to cycle to/from east Hove to Hove Park School so it is a real concern that they might remain at 30mph.”

He asked parents who shared his concern to email their comments to him at Goldsmid.20mph@gmail.com.

The agenda for the committee meeting on Wednesday includes an outline of Mr Murgatroyd’s case.

It says: “No evidence was offered during the recent consultation on the Phase 2 scheme to explain why these streets should be excluded.

“Excluding these streets near such busy public parks is likely to discourage children from cycling, and to expose children and other vulnerable users to unnecessary risk.

“This deputation urges that other priority roads in the Dyke Road West area be included around the major public parks in the area, Hove Park and Hove Rec.

“As a minimum, Hove Park Road, Goldstone Crescent, Orchard Road and the westernmost section of The Droveway, should be subject to 20mph limits.

“The current proposal which excludes the streets around Hove Park and Hove Rec is a perverse outcome from the recent consultation.

“There is a good deal of evidence showing the general benefits of slower speeds.

“All political parties represented on (the council) have recently been reported as supporting lower speeds in residential streets.

“The roads around Hove Park and Hove Rec specifically are an important part of the journeys which could be made by bike by children commuting from east Hove to Hove Park School and Blatchington Mill School, and from west Hove to the schools east of Shirley Drive – Cottesmore, Cardinal Newman, Brighton and Hove High School.

“Hove Park Road and Goldstone Crescent in particular are crucial to moving safely between Hove Rec and Hove Park.

“These two streets meet at a busy junction made more dangerous still by the number of parked cars in Goldstone Crescent.

“Failure to include these roads in the 20mph scheme is likely to be a major disincentive to cycling to school and to encouraging young people to be more active.

“The proposal seeks to exclude the streets in the Dyke Road West area only because responses in the recent consultation appeared to show that local residents did not support 20mph limits on ‘their’ streets.

“But a consultation is not in any sense a referendum or a ‘vote’ and it is a blunt instrument for policymaking.

“The principle of taking residents’ views into account is definitely a sound one but those views can’t be the only consideration or even the main consideration.

“The streets around Hove Park and Hove Rec are public roads. They are not part of a private estate.

“When considering where to introduce lower speed limits, the wishes of people living in a particular street are a relevant factor but not the only relevant factor.

“The wishes of residents who responded in the consultation – most of whom do not have children – should not be allowed to deny children safer streets or discourage them from being active or to expose taxpayers to higher bills for unnecessary accidents.”

The agenda indicates that Mr Murgatroyd is supported by Nicola and Simon Maurice and Eleanor Cartwright.