A city making huge strides towards sustainability

It's been a busy few weeks for our transport team, with the awards cabinet filling up again. At the end of September, the international CIVITAS scheme named Brighton and Hove as City of the Year - Europe's top accolade for commitment to sustainable transport.

And since then two of our schemes to improve our streets - the Lewes Road and Seven Dials - were highly commended at the National Transport Awards.

Brighton and Hove has made huge strides towards becoming a more sustainable city, having been runners up in the CIVITAS awards for three years and being named the least car-dependent city outside of London in 2012.

The redesigning of several dangerous major junctions, people-friendly pavements, new bus and cycle lanes, support for businesses and schools on alternative ways to travel, and initiatives to make bus travel easier such as real-time bus information and electronic tickets, have all earned us these awards.

The really good news is that much of this work has been funded using some £24 million of funding from central government and other organisations, all which we won in competition against other areas and could only be spent on these projects.

Importantly, fewer people are now injured or killed on the city's streets thanks to measures to traffic-calming and slower traffic speeds, including the resident-supported 20mph speed limits.

Making the shift to sustainable transport is not easy, but it is absolutely essential. We are a growing city, and our often narrow and congested roads just don't have the room to cram in more private vehicles.

Almost 40% of residents do not own a car, and the majority of tourists visiting our city travel by public transport. The only way we can keep our city moving and economy growing is by making it easier for residents and visitors to choose walking, cycling and public transport to get around.

With the hard work of everyone involved in shaping schemes across the city, our city continues to be recognised for making our streets safer and more people-friendly.