ESCC’s Active Travel package hit hard by local opposition

In the face of local opposition East Sussex County Council’s package of walking and cycling schemes funded under the government’s Active Travel programme has been substantially reduced – only five out of 16 schemes are definitely going ahead while the fate of another two has still to be decided. Proposals for second round funding have been submitted. Nick Terdre reports.

Seven schemes funded by the Department for Transport’s Emergency Active Travel Fund were given the go-ahead by Cllr Claire Dowling, East Sussex County Council’s lead member for transport and environment, in mid August. However, three of these were subject to consultation – the process is still under way for two of them but for the third it has been completed and the decision taken to drop the scheme.

The council is obliged to consult with statutory consultees, such as the emergency services and bus operators, a council spokesperson told HOT, adding,  “But we also considered it appropriate to consult with those most directly impacted by the measures or the associated changes to parking arrangements.”

In the event the consultation with traders and other local interests evoked sufficient opposition to cause many of the schemes to be dropped.

“Measures that do not offer sufficient benefit, have a negative impact on businesses and do not have overwhelming support from the local community will not go ahead,” ESCC told HOT.

Surviving schemes

The four schemes which will definitely be implemented are footway widening on the south side of the A259 between Pelham Place and the Stade in Hastings and in Buckhurst Place in Bexhill, a temporary road closure in Eastbourne and signage on the Cuckoo Trail in Wealden.

Consultation with Hailsham town council on a temporary road closure produced negative feedback so this scheme has now been dropped, ESCC said. The two schemes still subject to local consultation are cycles routes on two roads in Eastbourne.

One scheme – refreshing the markings on an advisory cycle lane in Cooden Drive, Bexhill, did not involve consultation and has already been completed.

County-wide measures are unaffected. Social distancing signage has already been applied at town centre bus stops and other busy places, and temporary cycle parking facilities will also be installed at various locations.

Headache for Shapps

Local opposition then appears to have scuppered transport minister Grant Shapps’ hopes that the Emergency Active Travel Fund would give a big boost to cycling and walking, at least in East Sussex. How to reconcile the disparate interests should be high on the agenda for authorities at both national and local level.

Altogether ESCC was allocated £535,145 for 16 local schemes, in Hastings, Bexhill, Rye, Eastbourne, Lewes, Newhaven and Wealdon, and the county-wide measures in the first round of funding.

Spending on the surviving parts of the programme will now amount to “more than” £350,000, according to ESCC, meaning that about one third of the county’s funding allocation will be foregone.

Among the schemes which have been dropped are one calling for footway widening on the north side of the A259 between Warrior Square and London Road in St Leonards. According to an officers’ report, the validity of the scheme was questioned by an unidentified HBC councillor, while a furniture business objected to losing loading/unloading ability outside their shop. “The traders’ comments are key to the acceptability of any scheme,” the report states.

Two schemes in Bexhill and one in Rye were also discarded, all involving the loss of parking in shopping streets.

Striking a balance

Following the meeting at which go-ahead for the seven schemes was given, Cllr Dowling said, “With the timescale and criteria for acceptable schemes set by Government, we are limited in what we can achieve but are working hard to strike a careful balance between keeping the public safe and supporting businesses in their recovery.”

The Tranche 1 schemes, which are supposed to be in place by early September, will remain for only a temporary period of around three months.

Meanwhile ESCC has submitted a package of measures to secure £1.6 million in the second round of the Emergency Active Travel Fund. These are permanent schemes intended be in place by March 2021.

“The second tranche of funding will enable authorities to install further, more permanent measures to cement walking and cycling habits, and where applicable enable the implementation of schemes identified in the draft East Sussex Local Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plan,” a council spokesperson told HOT. “We expect to hear shortly which measures have been approved by the DfT.”

They include a School Streets initiative to help more parents and pupils make the journey to school by bike or on foot. HOT hears there are likely to be a few dropped kerbs but no major works in Hastings. A proposal for bike racks at eight new locations was made to ESCC by community group Hastings Urban Bikes.

A consultation is soon to be launched on the county council’s draft local cycling and walking infrastructure plan, according to Cllr Dowling.

Meanwhile road vehicle usage is gradually returning to pre-pandemic levels. In the seven days to 1 September car usage was 92.4% of  the level in the equivalent days in the first week of February, and all vehicle usage 93.9%. Rail usage remained low at 35.6%.

The incidence of cycling at times fluctuates wildly, perhaps responding partly to the weather – on 25 September it dropped to 44% of the equivalent day in the first week of March (cycling data refers only to England), but in the seven days to 1 September it averaged 121.4%.

 

Full details of measures for the first and second round of Active Travel funding can be found here.

 

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