Issue - items at meetings - Brighton Station Gateway

Report of the Strategic Director, Place (copy attached).

1.         That members consider the feedback from public consultation.

2.         That members agree that more work should be done to better understand the impact of relocating the Station taxi rank to Frederick Place, and that the outcome of this work should be reported to Transport Committee in March 2013 to enable an informed decision as to whether to progress the preferred option to detailed design.

3.         That members agree that further feasibility work be carried out on options relating to the Station canopy before a decision is made on this element of the scheme at March 2013 Transport Committee.

49.1         The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director, Place that outlined feedback from the recent consultation on the preferred option for Brighton Station Gateway.

49.2         The Chair commended the report author for his continuing work on engagement with the local community and traders regarding the scheme.

49.3         Councillor Theobald also praised the report author for his engagement and the briefings he had provided to his party. Councillor Theobald noted that he supported the recommendations to delay work to conduct further work on what were extremely difficult issues.

49.4         Councillor Mitchell also acclaimed the report author for his work on the project and for the briefings provided to her party throughout the process. Councillor Mitchell asked if there could be a negative impact on traffic flow if work at Seven Dials and the Station Gateway were carried out simultaneously.

49.5         The Project Officer provide assurance that the traffic officers worked closely as a team and had carried out traffic modelling work to ensure this would not be the case.

49.6         As a ward councillor for the area, Councillor West thanked residents and traders that had contributed to the consultation and informally on the project. He noted this was a big project in a compact residential area and accordingly, sometimes concerns would be realised at a late stage. Councillor West supported the delay in order to make sure the project was right.

49.7         The Chair agreed that this was a challenging project as a lot was desired out of a relatively small but important area of the city.

49.8         RESOLVED-

1.         That members consider the feedback from public consultation.

2.         That members agree that more work should be done to better understand the impact of relocating the Station taxi rank to Frederick Place, and that the outcome of this work should be reported to Transport Committee in March 2013 to enable an informed decision as to whether to progress the preferred option to detailed design.

3.         That members agree that further feasibility work be carried out on options relating to the Station canopy before a decision is made on this element of the scheme at March 2013 Transport Committee.