Living Streets representative's report for 2007/8

'Living Streets' logo

Out and about

By Bruce Smith, NLCA Living Streets representative

Here is a summary of the main 'Living Streets' issues during 2007/8:

Pavements

Matters raised with the relevant Council officers this past year have included the state of pavement surfaces; and although I can't pretend to have got very far with that, various markings have quite independently appeared on the streets, which seem to indicate that eventually improvements will be made.

Car free day

Some time ago I drew attention to Car-free Day (officially called 'In Town Without My Car') and how to get involved. Whether as a result of this encouragement or not, two local streets were (like The Lanes and New Road) closed off for festivities on 23rd September 2007.

Communal bins

Living Streets as such was not consulted on communal bins; however, residents were.   Provided these bins - assuming a majority accept them - are sensibly placed and emptied daily, they should not constitute a problem for pedestrians.

North Street

We, that is Living Streets representatives, were consulted on improvements to North Street, and here again there has been a public consultation on the most important elements of the second stage.   (Not much has happened yet on the first stage, namely to the area between St James' St, the Old Steine and Castle Square; so the second stage, also aimed at making the whole area safer and more attractive for pedestrians, will obviously be carried out somewhat later than indicated.)

Graffiti

I recently raised in the North Laine Runner the continuing problem of graffiti and have had some exchanges with Cityclean. Summarising these:  residents affected by graffiti should ring Cityclean on 274674, or, if they can't get through, email: cityclean@brighton-hove.gov.uk. (By the way, it seems the graffiti squad are equipped with cameras to help track down the miscreants.)

Pavement parking

Finally, concerning parking on pavements national Living Streets have produced useful flyers which may be placed on or in offending vehicles. They can be downloaded as a pdf file from the Living Streets website. Go to www.livingstreets.org.uk. Then search on Pavement Parking and choose the Pavement Parking Campaign. From the bottom of the Pavement Parking Campaign page you can download a pdf of the flyer.

[Previously published in the North Laine Runner, No 191, March/April 2008]