Brighton & Hove council are currently consulting on introducing Red Routes on two different corridors within Brighton & Hove.
Red Routes were initially introduced on some major roads in London, however in the past decade has authorisation been granted for areas outside of Greater London to use red routes, and are only usually seen on busy routes within city centres & airports.
Red Routes are being introduced to lessen the impact of anti-social parking, such as parking on footways, cycle lanes, bus stops etc where they impact many other people on busy routes. The charge (fine) is the same as yellow lines, of £70 (£35 if paid within 14 days), but allows less reasons & excuses to stop. Offences can be enforced by a traffic enforcement officer, or via ANPR cameras.
Where will Red Routes be?
Two corridors are proposed to become red routes. These are the A23 between Cheapside at St. Peters Church to South Road on the Northern edge of Preston Park & the A270 between Elm Grove & The Vouge Gyratory.
Existing parking & loading bays will be maintained, with an additional loading bay introduced near to The Vouge Gyratory. All bus stops will be maintained.
How do Red Routes differ from yellow lines
Red Routes differ from standard yellow lines as they prohibit stopping for any reason (with exceptions), whereby double yellow lines only prevent parking (with even more exceptions).
| Action | Yellow Lines | Red Route |
| Parking | Prohibited | Prohibited |
| Parking with blue badge (disabled) | Allowed, except within 15m of a junction, or where signs explicitly include blue badge holders. | Prohibited |
| Loading | Allowed, presuming there are no yellow tags prohibiting loading | Prohibited |
| Stopping to alight/pick up passengers | Allowed | Prohibited |
| Stopping to alight/pick up passengers with a blue badge | Allowed | Allowed |
| Stopping to alight/pick up passengers from a taxi or private hire | Allowed | Allowed |
Emergency services, and other services such as refuge collection & royal mail are not affected by red routes. However, other services still require permission to park on red routes such as telecoms, gas, water etc except in emergencies. Where loading cannot be achieved using an existing loading bay, permission can be sought from the council to suspend part of the red route, for example when moving house.
Consultation
The Council has launched a consultation on the introduction of red routes, open till the 17th September. It is planned that the red routes are installed in Spring 2024, under a likely ETRO (Experimental Traffic Restriction Order), which will allow for additional feedback & tweaking before being permanently implemented.
