Dear Friend.

Thank you for donating to the Western Road legal fund. I am writing to tell you plainly what your donation has done, what happens next, and what we are asking of you now.

**Your money has already changed something**

On 12 June a single Cabinet Member signed off the Experimental Traffic Regulation Order for the Western Road Red Route as a non-key decision. On 29 June our solicitors served a formal Letter Before Claim. On 23 July, Alastair Gourlay of Real Patisserie presented our petition of approximately 3,800 signatures to Full Council.

The decision has now been called back to full Cabinet, which meets on 17 September. We do not believe that would have happened without the pressure you helped to create.

**We want to be straight with you about where that leaves us**

We expect Cabinet to approve the scheme on 17 September. We have been given no indication that any alternative to a Red Route is under consideration. Road resurfacing is scheduled to close Western Road for approximately 45 days from 28 September, taking in the Christmas trading period.

So the next three weeks matter more than any that have come before.

**Why we are fighting this**

Every claim we make in public is traceable to a council document or to a measurement anyone can repeat.

**Shops.** Western Road has approximately 948 metres of shopfront between Montpelier Road and Holland Road. The street was built in the 1820s. It has no rear servicing access, so every delivery arrives at the front door. The scheme provides ten loading bays for that length of street. No economic impact assessment of the scheme has been produced to us.

**Disabled access.** Once the bays are full, 88% of Western Road's shopfront frontage cannot be reached by a Blue Badge holder walking the council's own best-case distance along real pavements and safe crossings. That figure was measured against Brighton & Hove City Council's published disabled bay map and presented to the Disabled Car User Advisory Group in June 2026. Today, Blue Badge holders may stop on the yellow lines. Under a Red Route, those yellow lines go, and the bays become the only lawful stopping places.

**Side streets.** Commercial vehicles that can no longer stop on Western Road will stop somewhere. The most likely somewhere is the narrow residential streets on either side of it. The consultation asked no question about displacement, and no displacement assessment has been produced to us.

**Four things you can do, and they all matter**

**1. Share the CrowdJustice page.** Wherever you see the Red Route being discussed — local Facebook groups, Nextdoor, X, Instagram, the comment threads under news stories — post the link: crowdjustice.com/case/no-to-red-route

**2. Post about it yourself.** One post from you reaches people we cannot reach. Tag us, and we will share it on.

**3. Tell anyone with local influence.** A business association, a community group, a journalist, a councillor, someone with a large local following. If you know them, please tell them what is happening to this street.

**4. Email the Cabinet members who will decide on 17 September.** This is the single most useful thing you can do this month.

Write in your own words, and be courteous. Tell them what Western Road means to you: the shop you use, the pharmacy you collect from, the reason you park where you park. A short, polite, personal email from a real person carries more weight than anything we could write on your behalf.

All ten members of Cabinet, with their portfolios:

- Councillor Bella Sankey, Leader of the Council and Chair of Cabinet — [email protected]
- Councillor Jacob Taylor, Deputy Leader; Finance and City Regeneration — [email protected]
- Councillor Tim Rowkins, Deputy Leader; Net Zero and Environmental Services — [email protected]
- Councillor Trevor Muten, Transport and City Infrastructure — [email protected]
- Councillor David McGregor, The Economy, Culture, Heritage and Tourism — [email protected]
- Councillor Mitchie Alexander, Communities, Equalities, Public Health and Adult Social Care — [email protected]
- Councillor Jacob Allen, Customer Services, Public Realm and Local Government — [email protected]
- Councillor Emma Daniel, Children, Families and Youth Services — [email protected]
- Councillor Alan Robins, Sports, Recreation and Libraries — [email protected]
- Councillor Gill Williams, Housing — [email protected]

To write to all ten at once, copy this line into the "To" field of your email:

[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

If you would rather write to one, two carry particular weight. Councillor David McGregor holds the brief for the city's economy, and the shops on Western Road fall within it. Councillor Mitchie Alexander holds the brief for equalities and adult social care, and the question of disabled access falls within his.

Please copy [email protected] so that we know how many have been sent.

**One last thing**

Many of you wrote something alongside your donation. We have passed those messages on to the traders on Western Road. They have been read behind counters, in kitchens and in back rooms, by people who are having a very hard year and who did not expect strangers to stand up for them.

They have asked me to thank you. Your words have meant a great deal.

Every pound you gave goes straight to the legal team and is spent only on the case. We never touch it.

Our high street is not a revenue stream.

With thanks and with real gratitude,

Catherine Lane
Campaign Coordinator
Western Rd Community Group