77 replies to this topic

[LittleBertha]

 If she thought this year’s event had been cancelled because of her she would have been mortified.”

 

 

What a poor choice of words.....

[opplock]

The threat to the Speed Trials is publicised in an article on page 8 of today's Sunday Times. 6,000+ signatures now on the petition.

[Allan Lupton]

Mike Weatherley MP the member for Hove has posted this on his website today.

Mike has backed local Conservatives in pledging to reverse a Green ban on the historic Speed Trials, if it goes ahead at a council meeting later this month. A meeting when the final decision on the future of the Speed Trials will be made will held on Thursday 23rd January. Brighton & Hove Conservatives, in an initiative led by Cllr Ken Norman, have pledged their support for the Speed Trials to continue and would, if in control of Brighton & Hove City Council, allow the trials to continue. A petition that has been launched by supporters has already received nearly 8,000 signatures.

 

(as at 6:55 p.m. today 8756 people have signed this ePetition)

[Vitesse2]

Daily Telegraph has weighed in today:

 

http://www.telegraph...g-Brighton.html

[pete53]

It was a feature on BBC South East Today last night ( 3 January). It is still available on iPlayer.

[taylov]

It was a feature on BBC South East Today last night ( 3 January). It is still available on iPlayer.

 

Only on iPlayer until tonight

 

BTW the petition is now up to 8,995

 

 

Tony

[Mal9444]

Would the answer be to allow the Speed Trials to go ahead - but in view of the poor state of the road (which, presumably, is maintained by the Council) to impose  a speed limit?

 

I'll get me coat...

[Catalina Park]

They could always put speed humps in.

[arttidesco]

Would the answer be to allow the Speed Trials to go ahead - but in view of the poor state of the road (which, presumably, is maintained by the Council) to impose  a speed limit?

 

I'll get me coat...

That would make it a demonstration event like BRM Day at Bourne, not sure if they bothered monitoring the speeds at that one

Edited by arttidesco, 04 January 2014 - 14:01.

[Duc-Man]

If the road condition is the main problem that leads me to a question: it is a 1/4 mile race and how long is that bad part on the end of it?

Plan A: how about fixing the road?

Plan B: wouldn't it be possiple to move the startline so far back that the finish is still on save grounds?

[Bloggsworth]

Brighton is falling to pieces, part of the promenade, an essential visitor attraction is closed off; they are trying to raise parking charges for the lesser number of visitors attracted to Brighton; the council doesn't know its arse from its elbow, attempts are being made to unseat the leader of the council - It's a shambles. The sum total of the last few years is that The Green Party couldn't run a whelk stall...

[Vitesse2]

However, we should of course not underestimate the ability of political spindoctors to dress something up as something it isn't - although by then it may be too late.

 

Speaking at a recent council meeting where the subject was debated, Green councillor Geoffrey Bowden, who is chairman of the council’s economic development committee, said: “Let’s be clear, this has absolutely nothing to do with the ideology of this administration.

“It is for personal safety grounds that the officers have made this recommendation.

“Businesses on the seafront also have to close and we are inundated with complaints from people who cannot access the beach [on that weekend].”

Nice bit of spindoctoring, there, councillor. Invoke 'Elf'n'Safety'. No matter that every competitor is fully aware of the risks.

 

'Inundated with complaints'? Really? I wonder if anyone asked him for hard evidence of that?

 

http://www.theargus...._gaining_speed/

[Duc-Man]

Brighton is falling to pieces, part of the promenade, an essential visitor attraction is closed off; they are trying to raise parking charges for the lesser number of visitors attracted to Brighton; the council doesn't know its arse from its elbow, attempts are being made to unseat the leader of the council - It's a shambles. The sum total of the last few years is that The Green Party couldn't run a whelk stall...

Sounds kind of like my hometown Kaiserslautern apart from the facts that we don't have a beech front promenade and/or speed trials.

And Kaiserslautern isn't run by the greens.

[jondon]

Signed. Green politics are politics for those with nothing else to worry about.

[LotusElise]

Brighton is falling to pieces, part of the promenade, an essential visitor attraction is closed off; they are trying to raise parking charges for the lesser number of visitors attracted to Brighton; the council doesn't know its arse from its elbow, attempts are being made to unseat the leader of the council - It's a shambles. The sum total of the last few years is that The Green Party couldn't run a whelk stall...

 

I enjoy Brighton as a place to visit, but I was shocked by how run-down the prom is now. It really is falling to pieces.

If I were the organising club, I would be looking for at least a temporary new home for the speed trials, perhaps out towards the Marina, which doesn't get much traffic now, or the racecourse.

[Spillage]

The following is a comment on the Sunday Times article about the prospective banning of the event by Geoffrey Bowden, local Green councillor:

 

As a former PR man for the motorcycle industry, who has hurtled around Donnington Park at speed, I can assure Sunday Times readers that the officer recommendation to axe the Brighton Speed Trials has nowt to do with a supposed Green administration anti-car bias. It's all about safety and nothing else.

Unlike Donnington Park, Brighton's Madeira Drive is not purpose-built to accommodate speeds of up to 180 mph. Indeed at the inquest into the death of the sidecar passenger taking part in the 2012 trials, the family of the dead woman blamed the road surface for her fatality and the serious injury to her sidecar combo rider.

If further proof to debunk the claimed anti-car bent of the Green administration is needed, in another report being tabled at the same committee meeting that is to determine the fate of the Speed Trials, details the programme of events coming to Madeira Drive in 2014 are to be decided. Among them we are recommending the go-ahead to no fewer than 11 that feature homages to the internal combustion engine. Many of them are long-established. Happily none have resulted in the deaths of participants, or the enforced the closure for safety considerations of the beaches and businesses along Madeira Drive.

Campaigners also attempt to back their lame Green anti-car claims by pointing to the phased introduction of 20 mph limits in parts of the city. They fail to mention that the speed reduction proposals featured prominently in the Green Party's manifesto, which voters liked so much that they elected the country's first Geen-led administration in 2011. Even though it formed part of our election platform it's introduction is only being rolled out after extensive consultation and only in those areas where there's a clear majority in favour.

If only it were true that embracing the '20 is Plenty' campaign was some kind of pet Green Party project. To our shame we lag way behind countless administrations of every political colour the length and breath of the land that have introduced a 20 mph speed limit and seen road casualties plummet as a result. Many others are now taking forward plans for 20 mph limits too.

As to the other piece of circumstantial evidence of anti-car bias reported in your article, opposing the temporary removal of charges in a number of council-owned car parks in the run up to Christmas, hands up we certainly voted against this opportunistic Tory-Labour move. We said it was as a complete waste of time and a revenue loser. And so it proved to be. Just over 230 additional drivers took advantage of the well-publicised scheme - hardly a ringing endorsement and proof that the retail industry is only being held back by parking charges.

Geoffrey Bowden

Chair, Brighton & Hove City Council's Economic Development & Culture Committee

 

 

 

I'm all for safety, but it isn't like the participants don't know the risks. I signed the petition for that reason.

 

 

Here's the article, if anyone's interested, although it is behind a paywall: http://www.thesunday...icle1357506.ece

Edited by Spillage, 06 January 2014 - 01:27.

[arttidesco]

I enjoy Brighton as a place to visit, but I was shocked by how run-down the prom is now. It really is falling to pieces.

If I were the organising club, I would be looking for at least a temporary new home for the speed trials, perhaps out towards the Marina, which doesn't get much traffic now, or the racecourse.

 

Bristol Pesgasus Motor Club of which I am a member have been trying to find a new venue for a sprint since the loss of Colerne for some years, I would respectfully suggest fighting tooth and nail for Brighton to remain where it has always been, change usually means complete loss in this day and age.

 

Sounds like the place has gone seriously down hill since I was last there in the late nineties

[opplock]

"As a former PR man for the motorcycle industry, who has hurtled around Donnington Park at speed"

 

Does he mean Donington? Sorry, one of my pet hates. I have stopped pointing out this error on another forum frequented by people who drive there on track days due to the vitriolic replies. How they find the place is a mystery.

 

If Madeira Drive is no longer suitable the council are surely responsible for failing to maintain the surface. As for it not being purpose-built for high speed shouldn't someone tell the people who lap the Mountain Circuit at 130mph that it isn't safe.

[D-Type]

Have Brighton and Hove Disrict Council forgotten that Madeira Drive was originally conceived as a venue for speed trials?  Surely it is their duty to maintain it in a 'fit for purpose' condition to a higher standard than a normal road.

 

If the surface is in need of maintenance I suspect that could make them liable if there are further accidents.  So, perhaps the council motive is to be risk-averse rather than to begreen.

[LotusElise]

It's a public highway - they are responsible for it anyway.

 

artti - the rest of Brighton is still doing quite well. It's the prom that is languishing.

[arttidesco]

Glad to here the place is not going completely to ruin

 

My understanding is that Madeira Drive is not a public highway, which is why the police ban on the event was overturned in 1932, I believe it may have and may still belong to the council which is why they are so involved with it.

[john aston]

I don't doubt that the Council has the power to discontinue the event. I am trying to get hold of the Committee report  as rather than just bleating about Greens(which has reached hysterical levels on some other motoring websites)  and signing a petition it is far better to address the arguments for closure and put counter arguments to members directly 

[Allan Lupton]

ttt

 

11355 signed so far!

[opplock]

Councillor Bowden was interviewed on the ITV Meridian news earlier tonight. At the end of the interview he was pressed to predict the result of tomorrow's vote. He suggested a reprieve is likely as Conservative and Labour councillors will join forces to defeat the Greens on this issue. ITV referred to the petition signed by 8,000 people so their research must be 2 weeks out of date.

 

Hear's hoping for good news tomorrow.

[opplock]

We won! From The Argus:

 

"Brighton Speed Trials will go ahead in September this year following a huge public campaign.

The country’s oldest motorsports event was first held in Madeira Drive, Brighton in 1905 but was cancelled last year after the death of a competitor in 2012.

With safety concerns putting its future at risk, more than 12,000 people signed a petition calling on Brighton and Hove City Council to reinstate the event.

At a key town hall meeting today opposition councillors joined forces to give Brighton and Hove Motor Club permission to use the seafront strip."

 

Thanks are due to the Conservative and Labour councillors whatever their motivation.

[GMACKIE]

Well done !

[Vitesse2]

[Doug Nye]

Any word on resurfacing?