City council facing legal challenge in row over diverted bus routes
A resident is threatening Brighton and Hove City Council with a judicial review of its decision to temporarily reroute buses down her street, claiming that the local authority unlawfully eliminated vehicle weight restrictions.
Brighton resident, Gillian Durham, sent the pre-action protocol letter earlier this month disputing the lawfulness of a Temporary Traffic Order (TTO) issued by the council that removes 7.5-tonne weight restrictions on four residential streets in the city.
The removal of the weight restrictions, which will remain in place for 24 months under the order, allows the council to divert buses onto the streets while it carries out improvement works on a neighbouring road.
But Durham says the plan means more than 690 buses are now being driven down the four roads daily, resulting in air, noise, light and environmental pollution and dangerous traffic hazards to pedestrians, including school children who use these roads.
In her pre-actional protocol letter, she claims that the TTO is unlawful and should be quashed because it uses the TTO process to remove the weight restriction in breach of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and has not provided justification for the duration of 24 months. It also contends that the consultation was flawed.
Commenting on the impact of the TTO, Durham said: "Our peaceful neighbourhood is now threatened by constant heavy traffic, rattling into the night with night buses and starting again at 6am.
"Local residents' lives are being blighted by constant noise and light pollution. Buses idling just feet from windows, spewing out toxic fumes. Taxis and buses whizz past at great speed through a conservation area and narrow road. Vans and cars mount the pavement to get out of the way of the buses heading towards them."
She added: "There is no room for the Highway Code clearances to protect vulnerable road users, particularly pedestrians and cyclists. There are two primary schools close by, where children are dropped off, and already buses have collided with cars causing sufficient damage to take the cars off the road for repair. No one is spared the consequences of the Council decisions, but those consequences are devastating for those who are older, chronically ill, children, students and shift workers."
Durham is raising money through CrowdJustice and has currently raised £4,300 out of a £7,500 stretch target.
A council spokesperson said: "We have received this letter and are considering its contents. We are unable to comment further at this stage."
Adam Carey
