Alex Phillips, Green candidate for the Goldsmid by-election in Hove, has accused Tory-run Brighton & Hove City Council of "complacency" when it comes to road safety, dragging its feet on introducing 20 mph speed limits.
Alex said: "More people aged between 5 and 35 die from road accidents than anything else. Towns across the UK - such as Portsmouth, Norwich and Oxford - are considering introducing 20 mph speed limits on all residential roads."
As part of her by-election campaign, Alex is lobbying for 20 mph speed limits, more pedestrian crossings, improved cycle lanes, neighbourhood policing teams, and better street lighting.
Alex continued: "Here in Brighton & Hove, 141 people were killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents over the last year. The council should be looking at any and all ways to reduce this, as soon as possible. More than a year ago, Tories in Brighton promised to investigate a 20 mph limit, but they haven't even begun to look into it."
Residential speed restrictions have been an area of success for Greens in local authorities around the country. Green Party councillors Matt Follett and Rupert Read proposed the motions that initiated 20 mph schemes in Leicester and Norwich, and councillor Katy Dawson played a leading role for the Green Party on Islington council. (1)
If the Greens were to win the Goldsmid by-election, the Tories would lose overall control of Brighton and Hove Council, and the Greens would be tied with Labour as the 2nd largest group. Greens in Brighton beat all other parties in the city in June's European elections, taking 31.4% of the vote (19,727 votes, 6,000 votes ahead of the Tories).
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Notes to Editors
(1) http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/20-04-2009-20mph-zones.html and http://www.greenparty.org.uk/mediacentre/releases/2008-10-03-20mph.html
- Alex Phillips lives in the Goldsmid area of Hove. She is a modern languages graduate who has worked for the Green Party in the European Parliament and in Brighton and Hove. Alex has also worked for an International charity based in Brussels, and she is a trustee of Latitude Safe Space, a new charity for single homeless women here in the city.
- For more information please call 07931 231390, email brighton.media@googlemail.com, or call the Brighton Green Party offices on 01273 766 670.
- More information on Alex's councillor candidacy can be found at: www.brightonandhovegreenparty.org.uk and www.alexforgoldsmid.co.uk