Don't isolate the people living on The Bristol Estate, East Brighton

The Bristol Estate is located in East Brighton. An area predominately made up of high and low rise social housing. The residents are currently feeling isolated from the rest of the city due to the infrequency of their bus service. A few years ago buses used to take folk in and out of the estate every 7 mins. Now, however it is every 30 mins in the day time and a shocking every 75 mins in the evenings. With buses running on Sundays only once an hour. For the many elderly people living here the infrequency of the buses is adversely affecting their well being. The elderly talk about not wanting to go into town to the theatre or to see a concert anymore as they cannot risk being stuck at a bus stop for well over an hour. People talk about not being able to take on evening jobs as they would not be able to return home safely. Residents talk about the difficulties in getting to the Doctors and the Dentists. There is only one small shop servicing the whole estate, so locals rely on the bus for eating, for leisure activities, for health care, for work, for education. The residents feel like they have been forgotten, that they don't matter, that no one cares that they cannot get out and about for their good health and well-being like other residents in the city.

We call upon Brighton and Hove City Council to ensure that the residents of The Bristol Estate have a fair and equal access to the city centre by making the provisions needed to allow a more regular and frequent bus service to and from the estate.

Please do not allow the poverty gap to increase further in our city by not doing all you can to make sure that residents can move easily and frequently in and out of the estate on public transport.