A SHOPPING street car ban will keep pedestrians safe, says council transport chief Councillor Anne Pissaridou, (The Argus, July 8).

She has informed local businesses that Brighton and Hove City Council will ban vehicles from parts of The Lanes for up to 18 months, and that they will have six months to comment on the changes if they so wish.

This really is a case of putting “the cart before the horse”... by that I mean doing something the wrong way round.

The usual procedure for any council to take, if it wishes to change the rules so to speak, is for it to issue proposals and request responses to them before taking any action.

In other words it consults before it acts.

However, Ms Pissaridou has turned this generally accepted principal on its head and has done exactly the opposite by, firstly, banning traffic from parts of the city and only then asking for the views of those whose livelihoods will be affected by it.

What does she propose to do if, at the end of the six months, the view of the majority of the businesses concerned are against her scheme?

Will she then scrub the whole idea, recompense them for any financial losses that they may have suffered during this time and then decide that, in future, to listen first, take action second?

Your guess really is as good as mine.

Eric Waters Lancing