Campaigners say community has been ignored over Valley Gardens plans

The Valley Gardens Forum is set to criticise both the scheme and consultation in a deputation to a special meeting of Brighton and Hove City Council’s environment, transport and sustainability committee on Thursday (February 7).

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The business case for the £7 million scheme to change the road layout at the Aquarium roundabout and Old Steine was approved in November as the third phase of a project to simplify the road layout.

Thursday’s meeting is to note the results of the consultation that took place the end of last year and approve the final design.

Forum members, a group formed in January of residents, businesses and organisations in the city centre, say the council has ‘ignored’ the community.

The deputation says: “Our diverse and lively group is exactly the kind of sounding board the relevant local councillors should want to encourage and engage with at the earliest stages of re-imagining our critical infrastructure in the city.

“Yet somehow, something has gone seriously wrong with Valley Gardens.

“Everyone I’ve listed around the community feels marginalised and ignored.

“Even if the current plans were outstandingly good; the seismic shift in direction which the project has taken in the last three months, the perceived arrogance displayed by the administration, officer and consultants alike and a feeling we are being ‘steamrollered’ is baffling.”