Cabinet agreed on 17 September that Western Road's experimental Red Route goes ahead, after reviewing legal correspondence. The rebuild starts 28 September.

Update, 21 September 2026: Cabinet agreed on 17 September that the Red Route should go ahead. The published decision list records that Cabinet noted “issues raised in the Pre-Action Protocol (PAP) correspondence”, the legal step that usually precedes a judicial review claim, along with an updated Equality Impact Assessment, and agreed the Experimental Traffic Regulation Order “should proceed, having reviewed this additional information”. It states the scheme’s primary aim as reducing congestion “to allow for improved bus reliability during the experimental period”, and the decision takes effect at close of business on 25 September unless called in. The council has not said who sent the Pre-Action Protocol letter or what it argued; we will report that if it is published. The resurfacing was noted at the same meeting and starts on 28 September as planned. The article below was written before the meeting.

Councillors decide on Thursday whether Western Road becomes a Red Route, eleven days before the road shuts for rebuilding. Cabinet is being asked to approve an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order for the stretch between Holland Road and Montpelier Road (Brighton & Hove City Council, 10 September 2026). The same meeting is asked to sign off the resurfacing.

The resurfacing itself starts on Monday 28 September and is expected to take around 45 days. The road closes for the duration. Pedestrian access will be kept “wherever it is safe and practical to do so”. We set out the works in full on our Western Road closures page.

The Red Route is the contested part. In May the council said it would simply be installed “this summer” following consultation (council, 14 May 2026). It was not. Four months on, members are being asked to decide whether to proceed at all.

The numbers the council is using

The council published its case on 10 September. The figures below are all from that release:

  • 705 enforcement visits to the area between April and August 2026
  • 684 Penalty Charge Notices issued during 2025/26
  • 2,315 vehicles driven away during the observation period before a ticket could be issued
  • more than 22 million bus passenger journeys a year on services using the corridor
  • up to 700 buses a day on the route
  • daytime bus journeys between Hove and Churchill Square now take 16.7% longer than in 2015

The council says it receives almost weekly complaints about vehicles stopping on double yellow lines. It also says the scheme “is not about making money”, and puts the forecast long-term net enforcement income at around £50,000 a year.

Chart of the council's Western Road enforcement figures: 2,315 vehicles driven away before a ticket could be issued, 705 enforcement visits between April and August 2026, and 684 penalty charge notices issued in 2025 to 2026
Graphic by The Brighton Times
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What would change on the street

If Cabinet approves the order:

  • double yellow lines become double red lines, enforced by camera
  • ten loading bays are marked out, giving about 140 metres of loading space, roughly one bay every 70 metres
  • extra disabled bays go in along the route, including some near healthcare facilities
  • taxis and private hire vehicles keep the right to pick up and drop off
  • Blue Badge holders and disabled passengers can still be dropped off and collected

There are currently no designated loading bays on that stretch. The council says it asked businesses about delivery frequency and vehicle size during the consultation, and used the answers to shape the layout.

An 18-month experiment, not a permanent order

The Red Route would run first under an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order. That allows the scheme to be tested for up to 18 months. During that period the council can take further feedback and change the layout relatively quickly. No decision on making it permanent would be taken until the monitoring is done.

The council points to the city’s existing Red Routes on London Road, Preston Road and Lewes Road. Its monitoring of those found improved bus reliability, fewer collisions, fewer bus passenger injuries, better air quality indicators and no drop in London Road footfall.

What the consultation actually found

The council sent out more than 4,700 leaflets and received 1,032 responses to a six-week consultation. Of those who responded:

  • 50% thought safety would improve
  • 53% thought bus journey times would improve
  • 56% thought traffic flow would improve

Those are the council’s own headline numbers, and they are majorities on two of the three questions and an even split on the third.

Councillor Trevor Muten, cabinet member for transport and city infrastructure, said the Red Route “will help tackle long-standing problems with obstructive parking, congestion and delays”. Victoria Garcia, accessibility and communities manager at Brighton & Hove Buses, said that when buses cannot reach stops properly “this can create barriers for all passengers including disabled bus users”. Nigel Perkins, vice chair of Brighton Buswatch, said ten bus routes use the road and that the campaign group “fully support the council plan”.

The council adds that its Equality Impact Assessment “acknowledges some concerns” but concludes they can be mitigated.

One caveat on our reporting. The Cabinet report itself sits on the council’s committee website, and that site did not respond to repeated requests on 12 September. Everything above is taken from the council’s published news release, not from the report. We will link the report once the site is reachable.

What it means for you

  • If you drive through Western Road, nothing changes until the order is made. From 28 September the road is shut for the rebuild anyway, so the red lines would arrive as it reopens.
  • If you pull up briefly outside a shop there, that is the habit the scheme is aimed at. On a red route you must not stop unless a marked bay says you can, and enforcement is by camera rather than by an officer being present.
  • If you run a business on the stretch, the ten loading bays are the detail to check. The experimental order can be adjusted during the 18 months if the positions are wrong.
  • If you use the buses, expect diversions from late September during the rebuild. Check the operator’s own service updates before you travel.
  • If you park nearby, our parking in Brighton page covers the zones and permit rules around the city centre, and our roadworks and travel page tracks what is shut this week.

Cabinet met on Thursday 17 September at Hove Town Hall and approved the order; see the update at the top of this page.

Sources